BX 

Prestriage,  J.  N.  li^bj-iyu 
Modern  Baptist  heroes  and 
martyrs 


/ 


SHIS  book  is  presented  through  the  generosity 
of  an  "elect  lady"  who  desires  to  increase  the 
influence  of  the  heroic  lives  herein  described 
through  a  wider  reading  of  the  narratives. 

The  donor  is  herself  an  invahd  ;  and  I  suggest 
that  if  you  find  the  book  helpful  and  faith  inspiring, 
you  write  her  a  few  lines  of  appreciation  and  Christian 
greeting. 

She  does  not  wish  her  name  to  appear,  and  she 
does  not  suspect  I  am  making  this  suggestion.  Envelopes 
may  be  addressed  as  follows : 


Rev.  C.  A.  McAlpine 

1218  Granite  Bldg. 
For  "A  Friend"  Rochester,  N.  Y. 


and  they   will    be    forwarded ;  or  message  included  in 
letters  addressed  to  me  will  be  conveyed  to  her. 

The  only  request  that  accompanies  the  book  is  that 
after  reading  it  you  will  encourage  its  reading  among 
your  people  by  loaning  it  freely. 

The  gift  from  this  friend  also  makes  it  possible  to 
say  that  if  extra  copies  are  desired,  I  can  send  them  for 
a  limited  time  for  50  cents  each  plus  carriage.  Postage 
on  each  is  ten  cents,  but  several  sent  in  one  package  by 
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is  making  money  on  this  book,  unless  it  be  the  publishers. 


J.W.  L. 

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MODE RN  BAPTIST         "^OOSOI^l  ll'^S' 


Heroes  and  Martyrs 


tv  BY 

J.  N.  PRESTRIDGE,  D.  D. 
Author  of  **The  Church  a  Composite  Life" 


19         11 

THE  WORLD  PRESS 
LOUISVILLE.  KY. 


COPYRIGHT   1911 

BY 

J.   N.   PRESTRIDGE. 


DEDICATED  TO 

"Gideon,  Barak,  Samson,  Jephtha, .  .  David,  Sam- 
uel";  Oncken,  Pavloff,  Stephanoff,  Koslromin,  Natalia, 
Ivanoff,  Kornya,  Westrop;  to  all  those  ''who  through 
xaith  subdued  kingdoms,  wrought  righteousness,  ob- 
tained promises,  stopped  the  mouths  of  lions,  quenched 
the  power  of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword,  from 
weakness  were  made  strong,  waxing  mighty  in  war, 
turned  to  flight  armies  of  aliens." 


CONTENTS. 


A  New  Roll-Oall  of  Faith      .       .       . 

.       .       .     17 

Chas.  T.  Byford. 

Natalia 

.     49 

Madame  M.  Yasnovsky. 

The  Novotnys  of  Prague,  the  Successors 

of  Huss     65 

Henry  Alford  Porter,  D.D. 

William  Fetler 

.     81 

Sadie  Starke. 

Vasilia  Pavloff  (An  Autobiography) 

.     95 

Madame  Vasilia  Pavloff 

.  105 

A  Child  in  a  Land  Par  Away 

.  107 

Madame  Lydia  Kolatorova. 

Kapustinsky,  Exiled  Martyr 

.  115 

Margaret  A.  Frost. 

Baa-on  Woldemar  Uixkull 

.  137 

J.  N.  Prestridge,  D.D. 

A  Stundist's  Conversion 

.  147 

Baron  Vv'oldemar  Uixkull. 

Blossoming  into  Baptists 

.  151 

E.  A.  Steiner,  D.D. 

Baptist  File-Leader  of  Bohemia 

.  155 

Joseph  Novotny. 

A  Sad  Case  in  France  Righted 

.  165 

Paul  Vincent,  M.A.,  B.D. 

A  Hero  Colporter 

.  171 

J.  N.  Prestridge,  D.D. 

Four  Heroes  of  the  Faith 179 

Chas.  T.  Byford. 

Bohemia:  Stories  and  the  New  Refonnation       .       .  195 

Joseph  Novotny. 

A  Cossack  Transfigured 203 

William  E.  Hatcher,  D.D. 
Johann  Gerhard  Oncken         .         .         .         .         .219 

W.  0.  Carver,  Th.D. 
A  Roll-Call  of  Chinese  Martyrs        .         .         .         .237 

AVilliam  H.  Smith,  D.D. 
John  CHfford,  Hero  of  Religious  Liberty         .         .  257 

A.  T.  Robertson,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
Laving  Foundations  in  Modern  Mexico      .       .       .  267 

W.  D.  Powell,  D.D. 

Pablo  Besson:  Apostle  of  Argentina      ....  279 

S.  J.  Porter,  D.D. 

Jose  Barretto,  Brazil 291 

T.  B.  Ray,  D.D. 
Lott  Carey,  a  Negro  Hero  to  the  Dark  Continent     .  299 

E.  C.  Moriis,  D.D. 

Toussaint  L'Ouverture,  A  Haitian  Martvr       .       .  309 

R.  H.  Boyd,  D.D. 

Kin  Cheoss,  An  Indian  Hero 315 

A.  J.  Holt,  D.D. 

Martyr  Marks 321 

William  E.  Hatcher,  D.D. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Russian  Heroes         .....  Frontispiece 

Vasilia  Ivanoff 21 

Simon  Stepbanoff 27 

Andreas  Erstratenko 33 

Andreas  Levuehkin 42 

Joseph  Novotny 67 

William  Fetler 83 

Vasilia  Pavloff 97 

Baron  Woldemar  Uixkull 139 

Henry  Novotny 157 

John  Rottmayer,  Jr 173 

Andreas  Udvarnoki 181 

Peter  Doycheff 187 

Fedot  Petrovitch  Ko^romin 205 

Johann  Gei^hard  Oncken 221 

John  Clifford 259 

Pablo  Besson 281 


FOREWORDS. 

Humanity  has  always  been  powerfully  moved  by  two 
forces,  the  gregarious  or  crowd-forming  and  the  individ- 
ualistic. The  first  force  for  centuries  proved  the  more 
powerful,  and  the  young  and  weak  elements  of  human- 
ity became  crowded  together.  Such  crowds  afforded  jop- 
portunities  for  the  self-aggrandizement  of  the  strong 
and  base  and  cunning.  In  such  relations  the  story  of 
man^s  inhumanity  to  man  is  full  of  tears  and  blood. 
Slavery  of  body  and  mind  and  soul  prevailed.  Those 
members  of  the  crowd  who  possessed  organizing  skill, 
political  and  financial  cunning,  herded  the  people  and 
imprisoned,  fleeced  and  slaughtered  them  as  their  greed 
and  vanity  dictated.  Truly  those  were  long  and  dark  ages. 

god's  favorites. 

But  the  other  force  in  humanity  had  to  be  reckoned 
with,  the  individualistic.  People  after  all  were  found 
not  to  be  sheep  and  God  was  over  and  in  them.  There 
are  no  more  interesting  or  instructive  parts  of  history 
than  those  where  individuals,  open-faced  and  with  heads 
uplifted,  began  to  question  and  to  defy  the  arbitrary 


FOREWORDS 

sway  of  the  crowd-forming  force.  That  questioning 
and  that  defying  were  the  first  green  leaves  of  the  coming 
glorious  harvests. 

History  is  the  record  of  the  struggle,  bitter  and  un- 
ceasing, between  these  two  forces,  the  crowd-forming 
and  the  individualistic.  These  make  the  anvil  and  the 
hammer  with  which  Gk>d  undei-took  to  forge  out  mem- 
bers for  a  new  order  of  society,  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
upon  earth.  God  seems  to  value  above  all  tears  and 
chains  and  groans  and  martyrs*  graves,  the  outcomo  of 
struggle.  He  avows  in  inspiration  that  His  favorites, 
those  who  shall  sit  v/ith  Him  upon  His  throne  judging 
the  nations,  are  the  overeomers. 

BAPTIST  HEROES  AND  MARTYES. 

The  Baptists  have  always  headed  the  individualistic 
forces.  That  was  the  part  assigned  to  them  in  the  hu- 
man drama,  and  that  is  their  glory  and  crown.  Natur 
ally,  then,  their  history  is  a  history  of  conflicts,  of  chains 
and  prisons.  It  is  no  string  of  accidents  which  has  caused 
the  Baptists  to  furnish  so  large  a  part  of  the  world's 
heroes  and  martyrs. 

Every  war  has  its  budget  of  cost,  and  the  Baptists 
have  always  been  at  war.  They  have  been  in  the  very 
nature  of  their  calling  the  religious  warriors  of  the  cen- 
turies, and  they  possess  the  warrior's  virtues  and  the 
warrior's  faults,  and  they  must  naturally  expect  to  leave 
their  dead  upon  the  world's  battle  fields.  It  is  conceded 


FOREWORDS 

by  the  historian  Bancroft  that  freedom  of  conscience  is 
their  trophy.  If  all  the  corner  stones  laid  in  freedom's 
honor  could  have  a  composite  expression  in  human  fonn 
there  would  be  a  greater  ''Stone  Face"  than  Nathaniel 
Hawthorne's  and  its  very  lineaments  would  be 
Baptistic. 

THE   TWO   BAPTIST   LINKS. 

Freedom  for  the  individual  and  unconditioned  loyal- 
ty to  the  living,  present  and  reigning  Christ  are  the  two 
links  which  bind  Baptists  together,  and  which,  it  is  ap- 
parent, will  in  no  distant  day  bind  together  all  who  are 
called  by  His  name. 

These  two  principles  are  today  ^commonplace  princi- 
ples with  the  people  who  read  and  think.  The  passion- 
ate love  of  Baptists  for  liberty  has  permeated  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  world;  for  generations  it  has  been  built 
into  the  essential  'structure  of  humanity. 

The  claim  accented  in  this  volume  is  that  in  this 
great  cause  the  Baptists  are  leading  and  have  always 
led.  This  is  the  way  of  approach  to  Baptists  and  by 
Baptists  for  the  coming  answer  to  the  Master's  prayer 
for  the  oneness  of  His  followers. 

The  story  of  one  hero,  the  George  Washington  of 
Haitian  Negroes,  is  told  herein  who  was  not  a  Baptist, 
but  he  was  moved  by  the  spirit  which  has  always  moved 
Baptists,  and  he  became  a  flame-kindled  spirit,  a  spirit 
storm -swept  for  freedom,  viz.,    Toussaint  L'Ouverture. 


FOREWORDS 

All  such  the  Baptists  are  learning  to  claim  as  closest  of 
kin. 

A   NEW    ROLL    CALL   OF   FAITH. 

Just  at  this  time  there  breaks  forth  with  the  sudden- 
ness of  a  summer  shower  a  varied,  rich  and  wide-spread 
array  of  heroes  and  martyrs.  The  explanation  is  found 
in  the  almost  sudden,  prairie-fire-like  spread  of  the  dem- 
ocratic spirit  over  the  continents.  Century-long  tyran- 
nical forces  face  extinction  and  their  officials  are  fight- 
ing for  their  lives.  There  are  heroes  and  martyrs  in 
other  lands,  some  of  whose  stori^  appear  in  this  vol- 
ume but  in  Russia  and  the  other  Slav  states  are  found 
numbers  of  men  and  women  and  children  whose  lives  are 
blackened  by  prisons,  by  scourgings,  and  by  wounds  of 
clanking  and  cruel  chains,  and  the  lives  of  others  are  be- 
ing murderously  blotted  out.  This  collection  of  hero  and 
martyr  stories  is  published  as  a  protest  against  all  these 
wrongs  and  as  a  contribution  to  the  forces  fighting  for 
freedom  and  faith. 

Of  course  only  a  small  part  of  the  stories  of  those 
who  have  suffered  and  who  are  suffering  for  their  faith 
appear  in  this  volume,  but  here  will  be  found  represent- 
atives from  many  countries  upon  both  continents — Rus- 
sians, Letts,  Bohemians,  Moravians,  Bulgarians,  Ser- 
vians, Hungarians,  Brazilians,  Chinese,  Mexicans,  Argen- 
tines, Negroes,  Indians,  Americans  and  others.  It  has 
been  my  endeavor  to  get  the  stories  at  first  hand,  either 


FOREWORDS 

written  by  the  sufferers  themselves  or  by  those  in  close 
touch  with  them.  In  other  cases  the  facts  have  been 
collected  and  verified,  and  writers  secured  with  special 
equipment  for  each  case,  who  have  sought  as  far  as  pos- 
sible to  use  the  very  words  of  the  subjects  of  the  stories. 
The  many  excellent  portraits  given  add  much  to  the 
value  of  the  volume. 

INDEBTEDNESS. 

First  of  all  my  debt  is  to  the  Baptist  World  Alliance 
and   especially  to  the  recent  session  in  Philadelphia, 
June,  1911.   Out  of  my  relations  to  this  body  have  come 
the  information  and  inspiration  which  have  made  this 
volume  possible.    I  am  deeply  indebted  to  Rev.  Charles 
T.  Byford,  the  Commissioner  of  the  Baptist  World  Alli- 
ance to  the  Continent  of  Europe,  a  brother  to  whom 
history  will  give  great  honor  for  his  faithful  and  wise 
sendee  in  his  large  and  trying  field.  His  picture  appears 
in  the  frontispiece  group,  the  first  on  the  left  of  the 
center  line.    (A  word  of  explanation  regarding  the  ap- 
pearance in  this  group  of  my  picture.  I  was  accidentally 
passing  the  hotel  of  the  Russian  messengers  w^hen  they 
were  being  posed  on  the  pavement  by  a  photographer, 
and  in  a  chorus  they  began  to  cry  out  merrily,  ''Rus- 
sian,"  ''Russian,"  and  they  made  a  place  and  would  have 
it  as  it  is — an  incident  of  abiding  pleasure  to  the  adopted 
"Russian".)      Indebtedness     is     acknowledged    to    the 
Baptist  Times,  London,  which  published  a  number  of  re- 


FOREWORDS 

ports  of  Commissioner  Byford  and  others.  And  to  Rev. 
A.  J.  Vining,  the  Baptist  World  Alliance  representa- 
tive in  America,  who  first  put  me  in  correspondence  with 
a  number  of  these  heroes,  who  had  in  this  way,  previous 
to  the  meeting  of  the  Alliance,  become  personal  friends, 
brothers  honored  and  well  beloved. 

'  The  logic  of  the  volume  is  that  the  mission  of  the 
Baptists  has  not  yet  been  completed. 

J.  N.  Prestridge. 


A  NEW  ROLL-CALL  OF  FAITH. 


A"  MIDNIGHT  BAPTISM  AND  COMMUNION. 

I  arrived  in  Turocz,  Russia,  about  six  o^clock  in  the 
evening.  The  word  was  passed  around  amongst  the 
members  of  the  church  that  a  ser\'ice  was  to  be  held 
that  same  evening.  Just  after  dusk  the  brethren  began 
to  come  into  the  main  room  of  the  farm  steading  until 
at  least  seven  and  twenty  persons  were  gathered  together. 
After  the  exposition  of  the  first  chapter  of  John,  a  church 
meeting  was  held  and  two  candidates  were  accepted  for 
baptism. 

Close  upon  midnight  five  of  us  started  to  walk  acrosa 
the  fields  and  after  covering  ahout  three  miles  we  struck 
into  the  forest.  Presently  we  came  to  a  sluggish  stream 
not  more  than  three  feet  in  depth,  and  there  whilst 
the  moon  was  flooding  the  rivulet  with  a  silver  light  and 
in  the  near  distance  we  could  hear  the  barking  of  the 
wolves,  the  two  candidates  quickly  disrobed  themselves, 
and  the  elder  of  the  church,  preceding  them  into  the 
water,  administered  the  solemn  and  sacred  rite  of  bap- 
tism. We  were  a  glad  company  wending  our  way  back 
to  the  farmhouse  and  on  arrival  at  the  door  found  the 


18  MODERN  BAPTIST 

church  still  engaged  in  prayer  for  the  success  of  our  en- 
terprise and  for  the  safety  of  all  who  were  taking  part 
in  the  ordinance.  A  rough  wood  table  was  placed  ip, 
the  center  of  the  room,  the  elder  read  from  the  hook 
of  the  Corinthians  Paul's  version  of  the  institution  of  the 
last  supper,  several  of  our  brethren  led  in  prayer  and 
presently  there  was  passed  from  hand  to  hand  a  piece 
of  black  bread  and  afterwards  a  china  cup  filled  with 
the  red  wine  of  the  countr}^  Before  the  service  closed 
all  knelt  around  the  table  and  many  and  fervent  were 
the  prayers  for  the  spread  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  in 
that  land  of  trial  and  of  triumph.  Just  before  the  dawn 
began  to  break  in  the  east  the  members  of  the  church 
one  by  one  wended  their  way  to  their  various  homes  to 
harness  the  horses  to  their  farm  wagons,  prepared  to  go 
through  another  day's  toil  with  lighter  hearts  and  more 
buoyant  spirits  in  that  they  had  been  refreshed  in  heart 
ajid  soul  through  communion  with  the  Most  High  God. 

IVAN  KUCHNIREFF. 

He  was  born  in  1861  in  the  Holy  City  of  Kieff.  His 
father  was  a  Greek  Orthodox  priest  but  he  gave  no  edu- 
cation to  his  children,  and  they  were  allowed  to  grow 
up  without  learning  to  read  or  to  write.  At  eighteen 
years  of  age  he  was  drawn  in  conscription  for  a  soldier, 
and  during  his  service  in  the  army  learned  to  read  and 
to  write,  and  at  last  w^as  appointed  as  an  army  clerk.  On 
completing  his  military  service  he  obtained  a  govern- 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  19 

merit  position  as  a  road  surveyor.  In  1892  he  came 
across  a  traveling  Baptist  preacher  with  the  result  that 
the  following  year  he  was  baptized  and  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  church  in  Kieff.  He  began  then  to  earn  his 
living  as  a  writer  of  petitions  to  the  courts  of  justice. 
Until  1905  he  devoted  all  his  spare  time  to  advocating 
the  cause  of  persecuted  Baptists,  visited  the  prisoners  and 
presented  their  cases  to  the  Mgher  courts.  In  the  early 
days  of  1905  the  persecution  w^as  so  widespread  that  the 
Baptist  Union  of  Russia  appointed  him  as  their  official 
advocate  and  from  their  funds  paid  his  expenses  of 
travel.  He  receives  no  salary  for  this  work,  but  depends 
upon  the  hospitality  of  the  friends  whose  cases  he  brings 
before  the  courts.  Several  times  his  furniture  has  been 
seized  and  confiscated,  and  even  at  the  present  time  he 
lives  from  hand  to  mouth. 

During  the  persecution  of  1907-08  he  was  in  such 
dire  poverty  that  frequently  he  would  go  for  whole  days 
without  food,  his  wife  and  children  sharing  his  hard- 
ships. There  have  even  been  occasions  when  he  has 
given  his  children  rock  salt  to  satisfy  their  cravings  of 
hunger. 

Those  associated  with  this  calm  and  poised  man  at 
Philadelphia  became  conscious  of  his  culture  of  mind 
and  heart  and  of  his  resourceful  and  unflinching  spirit. 
These  words  and  his  picture,  which  is  the  center  on  the 
center  row  in  the  frontispiece  group,  give  a  good  con- 
ception of  the  man.    He  says : 


30  MODERN  BAPTIST 

"My  work  is  different  from  that  of  my  brethren,  but 
I  like  to  think  that,  in  my  way,  I,  too,  am  doing  good. 
I  was  thirty-one  years  old  when  I  was  converted. 

"At  that  time  I  was  an  advocate  and  I  believed  that 
I  could  make  myself  useful  in  practicing  my  profession 
in  behalf  of  my  brethren  who  got  into  trouble  with  the 
authorities.  I  found  plenty  to  do.  In  fact,  my  whole 
time  was  taken  up. 

"Frequently  I  travel  from  place  to  place  defending 
Baptists  who  have  been  imprisoned  by  the  police,  and 
do  not  see  my  home  for  wrecks. 

"Under  the  old  law  Baptists  were  imprisoned  or  sent 
to  Siberia  simply  for  believing  in  their  religion  and 
practicing-  their  faith.  This  condition  still  exists  in  the 
outlying  country,  and  it  is  there  that  our  work  meets 
with  the  most  obstacles." 

VASILIA    IVANOFF. 

Vasilia  Ivan  off,  a  Molokan,  was  born  in  the  govern- 
ment of  Elizabethpol,  Russia,  in  1848.  lie  was  converted 
in  1870  and  baptized  in  the  Tiilis  river  on  October  the 
twenty-first,  a  date  which  he  recalls  with  much  joy  and 
tenderness.  He  had  come  through  much  travail  and  he 
knew  his  own  mind  and  the  mind  of  his  Savior  as  well, 
and  so  he  began  preaching  at  once.  Y/ith  almost  equal 
promptness  he  began  to  suffer  from  severe  persecution. 
Such  a  flaming  spirit  as  his  could  not  but  attract  the  at- 
tention of  the  enemies  of  his  Master.  His  persecutions 
continued  until  1884,  including  the  deprivation  of  all 


YASILIA  IVANOPF. 


(21) 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  23 

civil  rights.  He  traveled  fearlessly  without  the  required 
but  denied  passport,  and  at  last  he  was  exiled,  and  heing 
permitted  to  return  was  again  exiled  for  four  years  for 
faithful  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  in  18'j<5.  In  the  Cau- 
casus he  was  made  to  serve  as  a  beast  of  burden,  being 
chained  vdih  fifteen  other  men  and  compelled  to  grind 
corn  on  a  treadmill.  He  still  has  to  suffer  persecution, 
and  the  police  refused  him  a  passport  to  go  to  Phila- 
delphia to  attend  the  Baptist  World  Alliance,  but  he 
managed  to  evade  them  and  succeeded  in  crossing  the 
frontier. 

He  has  more  than  three  hundred  members  in  hia 
church  at  Baku,  and  the  people  throng  to  his  preaching 
sen-ices,  Tartars,  Turks,  Armenians,  Kurds  as  well  as 
Russians.  Owing  to  tlhe  flowing  nature  of  the  popula- 
tion at  Baku  his  converts  spread  over  a  very  wide  terri- 
tory and  his  message  is  repeated  in  many  villages  and 
hamlets  and  cities.  Only  the  recording  angel  can  ever 
know  how  wide  the  reach  of  the  influence  of  this  faith- 
ful and  fearless  servant  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  told  his  owti 
story  to  a  reporter  in  these  simple  and  direct  words: 

''My  life  has  been  one  of  hardship  and  suffering, 
which  my  appearance  does  not  belie.  Born  in  Baku, 
Caucasus,  sixty-three  years  ago,  I  was  converted  and  bap- 
tized when  I  was  twenty-two  years  old.  Since  thai  time 
most  of  my  life  has  been  spent  in  prison  and  exile. 

"My  persecution  began  when  I  became  a  Baptist,  but 
in  spite  of  what  I  have  suffered  I  am  thankful  that  I 


24  MODERN  BAPTIST 

have  lived  to  bring  the  light  of  religion  to  hundreds  of 
my  fellow  creatures. 

^'Twice  because  T  pemsted  in  preaching  when  I  had 
been  ordered  to  stop  I  was  sent  to  Siberia.  There  I  was 
chained  to  criminals — robbers,  and  worse — in  the  chain 
gang.  I  have  been  sent  to  prison  so  many  times  that  T 
have  lost  track  of  the  exact  number,  but  if  my  memory 
serves  me  I  have  seen  the  insides  of  thirty-one  different 
prisons.    In  one  pri.^n  I  had  to  work  on  the  treadmill. 

"During  the  years  of  my  ministry  I  have  baptized 
over  fifteen  hundred  men  and  women,  most  of  them  at 
night  in  some  lonely  place  away  from  the  eyes  of  the 
police.  Often  I  have  chopped  through  the  ice  in  order  to 
administer  the  baptismal  rite.  Once  I  baptized  a  group 
of  eighty-six  persons." 

NICHOLAS  SKORADOKDOFP. 

He  is  a  young  man,  twenty-seven  years  old.  He  was 
converted  eight  years  ago  and  was  baptized  and  com- 
menced to  preach  immediately.  His  father  was  a  Baptist 
minister  who  died  in  exile  in  the  Caucasus  after  many 
imprisonments.  He  is  a  Caucasian  by  birth.  On  his 
return  from  Philadelphia  he  went  to  undertake  pioneer 
work  under  the  Russian  Baptist  Union  in  the  district 
where  his  father  was  martyred.  This  is  the  simple  and 
modest  waj^  he  tells  his  own  story: 

"My  religion  has  been  one  of  the  saddest  yet  hap- 
piest parts  of  my  life.  It  was  my  father's  religion  and 
it  cost  him  his  life,  for  he  died  in  exile  after  he  had 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  25 

been  imprisoned  many  times  for  teaching  and  leading 
the  people  to  conversion. 

"I  was  'baptized  eight  years  ago  and  spent  two  years 
in  the  preachers'  school  in  Lodz  and  six  months  in  Riga. 
Upon  my  return  I  undertook  pioneer  work  in  the  Cau- 
casus, where  my  father  met  a  martyr's  death,  and  al- 
thoug*!!  I  met  \^dth  many  obstacles  the  work  of  the  Gospel 
was  easy  compared  with  what  it  was  when  my  father 
went  there  many  years  before. 

''My  brother  was  converted  several  years  ago  and  h 
minister  at  a  small  church  in  Baku.'* 

JACOB  VINCE. 

Jacob  Vince  is  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  old  German 
families  settled  in  Russia.  He  was  born  in  1876  and  at 
eighteen  years  of  age  was  baptized.  For  six  years  he  has 
been  the  pastor  of  a  church  in  Samara.  For  the  past 
four  years  he  has  been  under  police  sun^eillance,  and 
spent  last  November  in  prison.  During  his  ministry  in 
Samara  he  has  baptized  more  than  five  hundred  believers, 
h^  built  up  a  church  of  three  hundred  and  seventy 
members,  besides  opening  eleven  mission  stations.  His 
church  was  founded  immediately  after  the  manifesto 
granting  liberty  to  the  subjects  of  the  czar,  but  hardly 
a  month  passed  in  which  he  did  not  have  to  sufl'er  mone- 
tary fines  for  baptisms.  In  May,  1911,  he  was  fined 
three  hundred  roubles,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars,  or  three  months  in  prison  for  baptizing  his  peo- 


26  MODERN  BAPTIST 

pie,  and  when  he  returns  to  Russia  he  must  face  this 
charge  and  meet  the  threatened  penalty.    He  says: 

"For  the  past  six  years  I  have  been  minister  of  tho 
little  church  in  Samara,  trying  my  best  to  convert  others 
to  the  religion  I  believe  in.  I  was  born  thirty-five  years 
ago.  Since  my  baptism  I  have  been  under  the  eye 
of  the  police,  my  every  move  watched.  So  far  I  have 
escaped  prison,  except  for  one  month,  and  I  consider 
myself  fortunate. 

"My  most  recent  offense,  for  which  I  must  answer 
when  I  return  to  my  country,  was  being  found  baptizing 
eight  Russians  whom  I  had  led  to  conversion.  That  wag 
early  in  May.  I  feared  the  charge  would  pre\Tnt  my 
coming  to  America,  but  the  Lord  was  good  to  me,  and 
I  am  thankful." 

His  picture  appears  at  the  left  end  of  the  top  row 
of  the  frontispiece  group. 

SIMON    STEPHANOFF. 

Simon  Stephanoff  was  baptized  twenty-five  years  ago 
and  began  to  preach  immediately.  During  the  first 
twelve  months  of  his  preaching  two  attempts  were  made 
on  his  life.  On  one  occasion  he  was  with  Ivanoff  and 
the  police  broke  into  the  meeting  house.  The  brethren 
had  fled  twelve  versts  away  into  the  wood  and  continued 
to  pray.  Meanwhile  the  police  came  to  the  village  and 
searched  it  thoroughly,  even  lifting  the  floors  and 
thatches,  but  finding  no  one,  went  their  way.     Next 


SIMON  STEPHANOFF. 


(27; 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  29 

morning  the  brothers  arrived  in  the  village,  delayed  by 
being  lost  throughout  the  night  in  the  forest,  and  the 
police  were  gone,  so  they  had  a  great  meeting  in  which 
many  were  converted  and  baptized.  There  ia  a  strong 
church  there  now. 

This  was  the  first  miracle  God  wrought  in  answer  to 
his  prayer,  he  says. 

He  was  the  first  convert  in  the  Varoitza  government. 
Wlien  I  commented  upon  his  aged  appearance,  I  dis- 
covered the  reason  in  the  answer,  that  for  ten  yeara 
after  his  con\ersion  he  was  hunted  by  the  police  from 
place  to  place  and  lived  an  exceedingly  hard  life. 

During  twenty-five  years  he  has  baptized  more  than 
one  thousand  persons,  working  mostly  in  the  Don  Cos- 
sack country.  He  is  now  pastor  of  the  Baptist  church 
at  Moscow. 

He  has  been  twice  in  prison  in  Varoitza  and  twice  in 
the  prison  of  Tambaff,  sent  without  judgment,  on  ad- 
ministrative order. 

He  has  been  thrice  called  upon  to  discuss  the  Bap- 
tist position  with  the  Greek  ecclesiastical  authorities.  The 
police  wanted  him  to  sign  a  paper  that  he  would  preach 
no  more,  and  not  attempt  to  influence  the  ignorant  peo- 
ple. His  cousin  is  at  present  spending  five  years  in 
exile  in  Siberia. 

He  says:  "For  the  ten  years  which  followed  my 
baptism  and  the  be.ginning  of  my  preac^hing,  I  was 
never  given  a  minute's  peace  by  the  police.  I  was 
hounded  like  a  criminal  from  place  to  place,  and  no 


30  MODERN  BAPTIST 

sooner  would  I  start  to  preach  than  the  police  would 
be  upon  me.  I  was  cast  into  prison  so  often  that  it  be- 
came an  old  story  to  me. 

'Tive  years  of  my  life  I  spent  in  Siberia,  often  in 
the  midst  of  criminals  of  the  lowest  type.  There  1 
knew  what  real  suffering  was.  Often  I  was  without  food 
for  days,  and  m'any  tim.es  I  was  too  weak  to  eat  whiat 
they  gave  me.    Those  were  awful  years. 

^'Despite  the  greater  liberty  whic^h  has  been  given 
u-s  in  recent  years,  the  police  threaten  to  send  me  back 
to  Siberia  if  I  do  not  confine  my  preaching  to  the  regular 
meeting  houses  and  stop  trying  to  make  converts  among 
those  of  tlie  Greek  Orthodox  religion.'^ 

(Editorial  Note. — He  is  of  great  size,  as  his  picture  intdi- 
cates,  his  voice  is  smooth  and  low-pitched,  and  his  smiie  la 
full  of  gentleness  and  good-wild.  On  his  right  hand  there 
is  a  deep  scar  from  above  the  wrist  to  the  third  finger  which 
shows  that  the  whole  hand  had  been  laid  open.  The  finger  is 
distorted  and  shriveled.  This  happened  on  an  occasion  when 
the  Co&gaoks  bound  him  and  his  wife  and  beat  them  boih  into 
insensibility.  When  he  became  conscious  he  found  tliat  she 
was  dead.  He  asked  from  v/hat  section  the  Oossacks  came, 
and  wrapping  up  what  cl'^thing  h-e  had  left  he  made  his  way 
to  that  section  and  the  larger  ruum^ber  of  his  -baptisms  were 
of  the  families  and  neighbors  of  the  men  who  had  heaten  him 
and  murderedi  his  wife.     It  was  Impossible  not  to  love  him.) 

VASILIA   STEPHAXOFF. 

Vasilia  Stephanoff  is  the  brother  of  Simon  Stephanoff, 
the  pastor  of  the  church  in  Moscow.  He  was  a  Molo- 
kan.  Born  in  1875  ^nd  was  converted  in  1890,  and  al- 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  31 

thoug'h  only  fifteen  years  of  age,  began  to  preach  im- 
mediately. He  served  as  a  conscript  in  St.  Petersburg 
for  four  years  and  looked  upon  it  a.^  a  splendid  oppor- 
tunity to  influence  his  comrades  in  the  army.  In  1899 
he  was  sent  by  the  Russian  Baptist  Union  to  commence 
pioneer  Baptist  work  in  Pesky  and  since  then  has  built 
up  a  church  of  two  hundred  members  and  has  opened 
twenty  mission  stations.  Every  year  since  his  advent 
in  the  district  the  church  has  sent  out  a  missionary  to 
do  pioneering  work.  Last  year  in  his  mission  stations  he 
baptized  two  hundred  and  fifty  believers,  making  a 
total  of  seven  hundred,  apart  from  the  mother  church. 
He  has  been  before  the  police  several  times  but  has 
never  been  convicted.  He  is  at  present  the  secretary  of 
the  Russian  Baptist  Union  and  is  a  splendid  type  of  the 
younger  men  in  the  Russian  ministry. 

His  picture  appears  fifth  from  the  left  on  the  bottom 
row  of  the  frontispiece  group. 

ZANOYIEFF   PAVLIENKO. 

He  was  born  in  Traboff,  Paltania,  Russia,  and  was 
converted  nine  years  ago.    He  says : 

'^I  am  only  one  of  the  younger  men  in  the  field  and 
can  show  but  few  scars  of  ser\-ice.     I  was  born  in  1882, ' 
of  parents  who  were  firm  believers  in  the  Greek  Ortho- 
dox religion. 

"I  was  converted  when  I  was  twenty  years  old  and 
ha\'e  been  cut  off  from  my  family  ever  since.  Four  times 


32  MODERN  BAPTIST 

I  have  been  before  the  authorities  because  I  persisted  in 
preaching  after  I  had  been  warned  not  to." 

On  his  return  to  Russia  he  is  to  be  stationed  as  pastor 
of  the  Baptist  church  at  Nicolaieff. 

His  picture  appears  the  second  from  the  left  of  the 
top  row  of  the  frontispiece  group. 

ANDREAS  ERSTRATENKO. 

Andreas  Erstratenko  was  born  at  Balashov,  Russia, 
in  the  province  of  Saratov,  in  1863.  He  was  Greek 
Orthodox  in  faith  and  until  his  conversion  was  himself 
a  fierce  and  terrible  persecutor  of  Baptists.  When  word 
was  brought  into  the  districts  that  the  Baptists  had  com- 
menced their  meetings,  he  placed  himself  at  the  head  of 
rioters  and  incited  them  to  stone-throwing  and  mndow- 
breaking  and  general  persecution.  In  1890,  Vasilia  Ivan- 
off  came  into  the  district  to  preach  and  Erstratenko  was 
converted  and  baptized.  He  began  to  preach  in  his  \dl- 
lage  with  the  result  that  the  work  began  to  spread  and 
a  small  church  was  founded.  The  year  following  his 
baptism  six  families  from  the  village  were  sent  into 
exile  and  five  families  remained  under  police  super- 
vision. At  the  end  of  another  year,  Erstratenko  and  the 
head  of  each  family  were  sent  to  prison  for  two  years 
without  trial  and  during  that  time  they  were  beaten  and 
otherwise  suffered.  After  their  return  from  prison  they 
were  arrested  every  time  they  met  in  one  another's 
houses  for  prayer  and  were  always  fined  forty  roubles^ 


^^^^B  ~^% 

1 

^^^^^1 

ff 

1\ 

^^H 

BF 

N 

^^^■k                      ''^^^4iiS\v.c.- 

> 

ANDREAS  ERSTEATENKO. 


(33) 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  35 

about  twenty  dollars,  each,  until  they  were  absolutely 
penniless.  Being  penniless  they  began  to  look  at  their 
work  from  a  fresh  point  of  view,  now  they  had  nothing 
to  lose,  the  worst  the  Russian  government  could  do  to 
them  was  to  send  them  to  prison  and  to  exile.  So  they 
met  boldly  in  the  day  time,  and  scourgings  and  beatings 
followed.  One  day  Erstratenko's  mother  was  so  brutally 
flogged  that  three  of  her  ribs  were  broken  and  her  death 
ensued  the  following  day.  With  three  brethren  he  waii 
seized  while  preaching  in  a  village  and  all  four  of  them 
were  flogged  until  they  v/ere  unconscious,  and  a  com- 
passionate man  took  pity  upon  them,  laid  them  in  the 
bottom  of  his  farm  wagon  and  drove  them  to  their  homes. 
Several  times  he  went  to  prison,  being  unable  to  pay  his 
fine,  and  at  last  was  banished  to  Siberia. 

He  has  now  been  twelve  years  in  Siberia  and  when 
liberty  was  granted  to  the  exiles  in  1905  he  elected  to 
remain  in  the  land  and  became  pastor  of  the  church 
which  has  been  gathered  together  under  his  preaching. 
He  was  privileged  to  baptize  the  first  political  exiles  con- 
verted in  Siberia,  and  during  his  freedom  since  1905, 
has  baptized  more  than  two  thousand  persons  in  Siberia 
alone.  As  a  result  of  his  labors  there  are  more  than  six 
thousand  Baptists  who  look  up  to  him  as  their  pastor. 
On  more  than  one  occasion  he  has  had  to  cut  a  hole  in 
the  ice  in  the  dead  of  night  when  the  thermometer  was 
lower  than  forty  degrees  Centigrade.  From  the  begin- 
ning of  his  Christian  life  until  the  present  time  he  has 
never  received  money  as  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel.    Like 


36  MODERN  BAPTIST 

the  early  apostles,  he  is  the  guest  of  the  Christian  fami- 
lies and  churches  which  he  ministers  to.  In  some  of  the 
villages  south  of  the  Baikal  more  than  half  the  people 
are  Baptists.  In  the  early  days  of  his  ministry  in  Siberia, 
ten  to  tvrelve  years  ago,  he  has  known  women  to  travel 
three  or  four  hundred  versts  (one  hundred  and  eighty 
English  miles)  to  be  baptized.  He  had  some  money  of 
liis  own  but  repeated  fines  have  impoverished  him.  He 
says: 

"I  regret  to  say  that  I  persecuted  those  of  the  Baptist 
faitli  as  cruelly  as  any  one.  To  me  at  that  time  they  were 
heathen,  infidels,  and  meriting  only  our  scorn  and  con- 
tempt. 

"One  day  it  dawned  on  me  that,  right  or  wrong,  they 
had  a  right  to  their  religious  views,  and  I  resolved  to 
investigate  their  religion.  I  attended  a  meeting,  ashamed 
of  the  weakness  that  took  me  there,  and  soon  became 
deeply  impressed  with  the  views  expressed  by  Vaiilia 
Ivanoif,  who  was  secretly  holding  meetings. 

"I  was  twenty-seven  years  old  when  I  was  converted, 
and  so  strong  a  hold  did  the  faith  take  that  I  began  to 
preadh  immediately.  You  can  imagine  the  contempt  my 
former  fellows  had  for  me  when  they  learned  of  my  con- 
version. I  was  hissed  and  hooted  in  the  streets  and  fre- 
quently stoned  when  I  tried  to  preach. 

^T'hen  began  a  long  series  of  persecutions  by  the 
police.  I  was  sent  to  prison,  placed  in  a  dungeon  and 
half  starved.    I  was  beaten  and  scourged  manv-  times  in 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  17 

an  effort  to  drive  the  'Baptist  devil'  from  me,  but  I  re- 
mained true  to  my  adopted  religion  under  their  torture." 

PAUL  DATZCHO. 

He  is  twenty-six  years  of  age,  a  native  of  Kharkoff,  and 
he  was  converted  nine  years  ago.  His  mother  was  the 
first  Baptist  in  Kharkoff,  twenty-four  years  ago.  He  has 
been  before  the  court  and  sentenced  to  prison  for  three 
months  for  preaching  and  was  threatened  with  the  loss 
of  all  civil  rights.  Last  October  he  baptized  eighteen  peo- 
ple in  the  forest  at  midnight.  He  has  spent  two  years 
in  Lodz  at  the  seminary  founded  by  Baron  Uixkull,  and 
the  last  six  months  in  Riga.  On  his  return  to  Russia,  he 
is  to  be  inducted  as  the  minister  of  the  church  in  Khar- 
koff, where  there  are  four  hundred  members.    He  says: 

''I  was  born  in  Kharkoff  in  1885  and  was  baptized 
in  the  Baptist  faith  when  I  was  seventeen  years  old.  My 
mother,  who  has  long  been  a  believer  in  the  Baptist 
faith,  was  sent  to  prison  and  remained  there  some  time 
because  ^he  would  not  renounce  it  and  become  a  member 
of  the  state  Church  and  because  she  held  a  prayer  meet- 
ing in  her  house. 

"I  was  cast  into  prison,  too,  for  spreading  the  Gosp<3l 
in  Kharkoff,  and  was  kept  there  three  month-5.  I  have 
baptized  many  people,  but  I  had  to  be  very  careful  that 
the  authorities  did  not  catch  me  doing  it.  Many  times  I 
have  baptized  in  the  forests  in  the  dead  of  night,  often 
having  to  chop  a  hole  in  the  ico  to  do  to. 


88  MODERN  BAPTIST 

"When  I  get  back  to  Russia  I  hope  to  be  allowed  to 
continue  my  work  in  tbe  church  at  Kharkoff." 

His  picture  appears  third  from  the  left  of  the  top 
row  of  the  frontispiece  group. 

M.   BALICHIN. 

He  was  bom  in  1856  and  converted  in  1881  and  bap- 
tized in  1882.  In  1883  he  began  to  travel  and  preach 
the  Gospel.  In  1884  he  was  at  the  first  conference  at 
St.  Petersburg  called  by  Col.  Paschoff,  the  English  Lord 
Radstock  and  others.  He  was  then  arrested  and  later 
was  released  from  prison  and  sent  aAvay  to  a  fur  corner 
of  the  empire.  He  has  not  been  banished.  In  1886,  he 
was  ordained  as  pastor  in  Astrakankskia.  He  was 
chosen  by  the  Baptist  Union  to  visit  the  scattered  group? 
of  believers  in  Russia  and  has  baptized  more  than  anyone 
else  in  Russia  in  the  dead  of  night  in  the  depths  of  the 
forests.  He  has  always  escaped  arrest  since  his  first  ex- 
perience. In  all  he  has  baptized  about  fifteen  hundred 
believers.  Oftentimes  the  police  have  come  into  the  meet- 
ings and  disputed  with  him,  but  he  has  always  been 
favored.  In  1900  when  many  were  imprisoned  he  had 
a  power  of  attorney  to  visit  the  prisons  and  employ  ad- 
vocates and  thus  obtained  the  release  of  many  impris- 
oned brethren. 

In  one  town,  Ekaterinaslav,  he  visited  believers 
among  the  prisoners,  and  in  the  prison  discovered  one 
brother  who  held  the  appointment  of  official  swineherd. 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  39 

who  tad  to  take  charge  of  stolen  pigs  and  return  them 
to  their  owners.  Balichin  tried  to  see  him,  but  the  gov- 
ernor refused  him  permission.  Some  of  the  prisoners 
saw  Balichin  about  and  one  called  out  to  him,  ''Come 
and  see  if  you  have  lost  any  swine."  On  Balichin's  accept- 
ing the  invitation  he  was  brought  before  the  governor, 
and  thus  was  able  to  bring  the  case  to  the  police  authori- 
ties, and  ultimately  secured  the  release  of  his  friend. 
During  his  ministry  he  has  set  apart  thirty-two  young 
men  as  preachers  of  the  Gospel.  Since  1905  he  has  been 
engaged  in  pioneer  work  and  has  rented  music  halls 
and  theaters  in  which  he  carries  on  his  propaganda  work. 
He  is  supported  largely  by  a  wealthy  man,  who  \vishe9 
secretly  to  csltvj  on  this  work,  without  interruption.  He 
thus  tells  his  own  story: 

"I  'am  a  Molokan,  born  in  1856.  I  was  converted  to 
the  Baptist  religion  when  I  was  twenty-six  years  old. 
For  four  years  I  carried  on  the  work  of  making  con- 
verts despite  orders  from  the  police  to  stop  it. 

'^I  was  constantly  under  suspicion,  but  by  exercising 
great  care  in  my  work  and  holding  secret  meetings 
away  from  the  towns  T  was  able  to  keep  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  authorities  until  1886.  Then  I  was  sentenced  to  a 
term  in  prison,  and  at  the  end  of  my  sentence  released 
fvith  a  warning  that  I  would  be  sent  back  if  I  was  found 
preaching  again. 

''I  still  carried  on  the  work,  but  had  to  be  more 
careful  than  before,  because  I  was  constantly  under  sus- 
picion.    We  would  meet  in  some  lonely  spot  in  the 


40  MODERN  BAPTIST 

depths  of  the  forest  late  at  night,  stealing  there  one  by 
one,  and  post  sentinels  to  avoid  being  surprised  by  the 
police.  Of  the  more  than  sixteen  hundred  persons  I 
have  baptized,  by  far  the  greater 'majority  were  converted 
at  such  meetings.  The  peasants  reaUzed  it  meant  im- 
prisonment for  them  if  they  were  caught  attending  a 
Baptist  meeting  and  so  they  had  to  exercise  great  se- 
crecy. 

^^Of  late  years  much  of  my  work  has  been  in  visiting 
the  prisons  and  comforting  Baptists  who  were  serving 
sentences  because  of  their  religion." 

His  picture  appears  on  the  right  end  of  the  center 
row  of  the  frontispiece  group. 

ROMORN  HOMIAC. 

He  was  born  in  the  government  of  Astrakan,  in  1881, 
and  received  a  good  education  in  the  gAmmasium.  His 
people  are  all  Greek  Orthodox.  In  1905  he  was  brought 
under  the  influence  of  Simeon  Stephanoff,  and  in  the 
month  of  June  of  the  same  year  was  baptized  in  the 
river  Molgor.  In  1906  he  T\'ent  to  St.  Petersburg  and 
helped  in  a  village  church.  Two  years  later  he  was  on'e 
of  the  t^n  men  selected  'to  go  to  the  seminary  at  Lodz 
i;vhere  he  spent  three  years,  afterwards  proceeding  to 
Riga.  He  has  already  won  his  spurs  as  a  preacher  and 
hardly  a  month  has  passed  without  his  baptizing  ten  or 
more  people.  It  is  not  yet  settled  where  the  Kussian 
Baptist  Union  will  station  him  as  pastor. 


ANDREAS  LEYUCHKIX. 


(42) 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  43 

His  picture  appears  fourth  from  the  left  on  the  top 

row  of  the  frontispiece  group. 

ANDREAS  LEVUCHKIN. 

Andreas  Levuchkin  was  born  in  1858  at  Tambov,  in 
the  provinQe  of  Saratov,  in  Eastern  Russia.  At  sixteen 
years  of  age  he  went  to  Tifiis  and  there  first  came  into 
contact  with  the  Baptists.  He  \ms  converted  in  1882, 
and  Hke  all  our  Russian  converts  commenced  preachini; 
immediateh^  P'or  three  yesirs  he  preached  with  freedom 
and  then  his  trials  commenced,  until  at  last,  in  1891,  ho 
was  sent  into  exile  in  Transcaucasia  by  administrative 
order,  that  is,  without  the  formality  of  a  trial.  He  was 
eent  amongst  the  Tartars  that  not  understanding  their 
language  he  would  be  unable  to  preach  to  them,  but  as 
there  was  a  large  company  of  exiles  in  that  district  he 
was  enabled  to  have  fellowship  with  th^m.  He  spent 
eight  years  in  exile  and  returned  home  in  1900.  He 
Fays: 

''I  was  converted  to  the  Baptist  faith  when  I  was 
twenty-two  years  old.  My  parents  were  both  members 
of  the  Greek  Orthodox  Church.  T  wa«  born  in  1858  and 
baptized  in  1882.  In  1891  charges  were  brought  against 
me  and  without  the  formality  of  a  trial  I  was  sent  into 
exile,  I  was  given  the  privilege  of  paying  my  own  faro 
and  that  of  the  two  guards  who  accompanied  me. 

"I  was  in  exile  for  eight  long,  weary  years,  being 
kept  among  the  Tartars  to  prevent  my  preaching  to  the 


44  MODERN  BAPTIST 

Russian  people.    Since  my  return  from  exile  in  1899 
I  have  been  constantly  under  police  super\dsion. 

"\^^en  the  authorities  learned  that  I  was  making 
plans  to  go  to  the  convention  at  Philadelphia,  an  old 
charge  of  several  years'  standing  was  brought  up  against 
me,  but  I  had  my  passport  and  cleared  across  the  fron- 
tier before  they  could  arrest  me. 

"I  expect  to  be  arrested  and  to  stand  trial  as  soon  as 
I  return  to  Russia.'/ 

His  trial  is  sure  to  cost  him  one  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  or  three  months  in  a  Russian  prison,  and  words 
can  hardly  describe  the  suffering  of  the  alternative. 

A   BAPTIST    HEROINE   IN    SERVIA. 

Twenty-three  years  ago  two  Germans  went  down  to 
Servia,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schneider.  They  had  been  brought 
under  the  influence  of  Rev.  J.  G.  Oncken,  the  German 
Baptist  hero,  who  in  much  suffering  and  many  labors 
laid  the  foundations  for  this  modern  Baptist  revival  on 
the  Continent  of  Europe.  Arri\'ing  in  Belgrade,  the 
capital  of  SeiTia,  they  commenced  to  speak  to  their 
neighbors  the  Baptist  faith  and  principles.  Gradually 
men  and  women  began  to  seek  and  to  find  salvation  and 
to  ask  for  baptism,  and  a  small  church  was  formed. 
Their  work  progressed  quietly  for  several  years,  meetings 
being  held  in  the  homes  of  some  of  the  wealthier  mem- 
bers. At  last  a  decision  was  taken  to  arise  and  build. 
Mr.  McKenzie,  a  Scotch  Baptist  merchant  in  the  city, 
helped  them  considerably,  and  at  last  an  excellent  church 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  46 

building,  which  seated  albout  four  hundred  people  waa 
erected  close  to  the  market  square.  The  building  was 
only  used  for  worship  once,  the  dedication  sendee,  for 
the  police,  instigated  by  the  priests  of  the  Orthodox 
Church,  stepped  in  and  confiscated  the  building  and  put 
several  of  the  leaders  in  prison  for  three  months.  The 
building  still  stands  as  a  monument  to  the  intolerance  of 
the  Servian  government.  It  is  used  for  a  govern- 
ment bank.  From  this  time  onward  the  Baptists  in 
Servia  had  to  suffer  scourgings  and  imprisonments. 
They  were  not  allowed  to  meet  for  worship  with  the  result 
that  week  by  week  they  gathered  in  the  forests  or  in 
quiet  places  by  the  riverside  to  comfort  one  another  in 
the  Kingdom  of  God  and  to  sing  his  praises.  Shortly 
after  the  confiscation  of  the  church  building,  Mr. 
Schneider  died  and  in  the  following  year  his  wife  was 
stricken  vdih  blindness.  It  was  now  an  exceedingly  difh- 
cult  matter  for  her  to  attend  the  meetings  of  the  breth- 
ren. She  would  need  a  guide  to  lead  her  to  the  secret 
meeting  place,  and  to  be  conducted  regularly  from  her 
home  through  the  crowded  streets  of  the  city  would 
probably  mean  the  betrayal  of  those  gathered  together  for 
worship.  Occasionally  the  members  of  the  church  would 
come  to  her  bare  whitewashed  room  and  read  to  her 
from  the  Word  of  God,  and  join  with  her  in  prayer. 
T\\'elve  months  ago  an  officer  of  the  police  came  to  li\e 
in  the  house  next  to  hers  and  his  advefit  struck  consterna- 
tion into  the  heart  of  the  sTster  for  the  visit  of  the 
brethren  would  be  known  to  him  and  they  would  speed- 


46  MODERN  BAPTIST 

ily  find  themselves  in  trouble.  A  few  weeks  after  the 
policeman  had  taken  his  residence,  his  little  boy  fell 
down  and  broke  his  leg,  and  the  blind  woman  used  to  gc 
and  sit  by  his  bedside  and  began  to  tell  him  some  of  the 
New  Testament  stories.  The  mother  of  the  lad  was 
greatly  interested  in  the  stories  and  the  truths  they 
taught  and  she  began  to  inquire  more  perfectly  the  way 
of  salvation.  One  day  the  policeman  asked  Mrs.  Schnei- 
der if  there  were  any  more  people  in  the  city  of  her  way 
of  thinking.  She  was  in  a  quandary.  She  hardly  knew 
what  answer  to  make.  To  deny  would  be  to  lie  and  thai 
she  could  not  do;  to  affirm  might  mean  betrayal  of 
the  followers  of  Christ,  and  while  she  hesitated  what  to 
do,  the  policeman  said,  "Do  not  be  afraid,  I  too  would 
like  to  be  one  of  you.*'  The  result  has  been  that  for 
the  past  few  months  as  m'any  as  six  and  eight  brethren 
have  met  in  the  room  of  the  old  wonTan,  and  one  can 
never  forget  her  expressions  of  devout  thankfulness  to 
God  that  once  again  under  the  protection  of  the  resident 
policeman  the  brethren  are  enabled  to  meet  in  her 
home  for  worship.  One  can  still  hear  her  plaintive  voice 
saying,  "Oh,  how  good  the  great  God  is  to  us,  how  very 
good  God  is  to  us,  for  when  the  rain  pelts  down  and  the 
strong  winds  blow,  we  can  sing,  if  we  sing  verv^  softly,  a 
hymn  of  praise  to  Him."' 

Scattered  all  over  the  lana  there  are  these  little  com- 
panies of  Baptists,  who,  despite  all  the  pains  and  penal- 
ties inflicted  upon  them  by  a  retrograde  government,  yet 
meet  to  worship  and  praise  their  T^ord  and  Ma.^er. 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  47 

IVAN    SAVELIEFF. 

This  servant  of  Jesus  Christ  was  born  in  1858,  in 
Saratoff,  Russia.  He  had  belonged  to  the  Molokani,  a 
sect  after  the  order  of  the  Quakers.  He  was  converted 
w'hen  twenty-five  years  of  age  in  Vladikasv^as  and  waa 
baptized  in  1883.  Immediately  he  began  to  preach  tihe 
Gospel  as  do  so  many  fellow  confessors  of  faith  in 
Clirist.  He  \Y£iS  exiled  for  five  years  for  preaching  in 
Transcaueasda,  1894-1900,  by  administratixe  order,  that 
is,  without  due  process  of  law.  For  four  years  he  was 
ofTicially  recognized  as  a  preacher  by  the  Russian  Baptist 
Union  at  Vladikasvas,  1900-1904.  Seven  times  has  he 
been  imprisoned  for  short  periods,  but  he  does  not  count 
imprisonment  as  suffering  since  it  is  for  the  Gospel's  sake. 
He  is  liable  to  arrest  upon  return  from  Philadelphia.  If 
called  upon  all  who  know  him  know  that  he  ^\dll  remain 
true  to  his  faith. 

At  one  time  all  of  his  meetings  were  forbidden,  and 
e^'ery  Saturday  spies  came  from  the  police  to  discover 
where  the  meetings  were  to  be  held.  Not^^dthstanding, 
meetings  were  always  held,  sometimes  in  the  depths  of 
the  forests  and  .sometimes  in  secluded  places  on  the  river 
banks. 

One  Sunday  they  met  in  a  barn  and  the  police  dis- 
covered them.  One  brother  was  on  wat-ch  ^t  the  door 
for  the  police  'and  when  he  saw  them  coming  he  called 
the  owner  of  the  house,  who  locked  the  barn  door  from 
the  outside  and  went  into  the  house.     The  pohce  de- 


48  MODERN  BAPTIST 

manded  to  search  t/he  house  and  did  so,  'but  forgot  the 
barn.  Later,  as  they  waited,  the  crowd  came  out  and 
the  pohce  were  greattly  surprised. 

Whenever  a  strange  Baptist  preacher  came  to  town 
he  was  locked  up  every  Saturday  until  Monday.  Every 
Sunday  the  police  have  attempted  to  disperse  the  meet- 
ings by  protocol.  Each  time  all  the  ^^orshipers  were 
arrested  and  brought  before  the  court,  charged  with  be- 
ing law  breakers,  but  these  persecutions  only  brought 
more  to  the  meetings.  The  judge  became  helpless  and 
confus(^d  and  he  finally  dismissed  thicm,  testifying  to 
their  good  spirit  and  behavior.    Savelieff  says: 

*'Since  1904,  I  have  been  pastor  of  a  little  church  in 
Vladikasvas.  I  was  converted  when  twenty-five.  Fol- 
lowing that  I  was  sent  to  prison  many  times  for  short 
sentences  in  adhering  to  my  chosen  religion. 

*''In  1894  I  was  sent  to  Siberia  for  five  years,  where 
I  suffered  as  others  of  my  brethren  had  before  me.  In 
1900,  just  about  a  year  after  my  return  from  exile,  I 
was  sent  back  again  to  Siberia  for  preaching,  re- 
maining there  until  1904. 

''Since  then  I  have  been  before  the  magistrates  many 
times  and  have  a  charge  pending  now  which  I  must  face 
when  I  return  to  Russia.*' 

His  picture  appears  at  the  left  end  of  the  bottom 
row  of  the  frontispiece  group. 

Chas.  T.  Byford, 

Ix)ndon,  England. 


NATALIA. 

"Natalia,  you  must  get  ready.  We  are  leaving  in 
a  week,"    said    Michael  Ivanoff,    entering    the    room. 

Ivanoff  was  the  son  of  a  Russian  priest.  He  was  not 
a  dutiful  son  of  the  Greek  Orthodox  Church  in  spite 
of  the  position  occupied  by  his  father.  He  seldom  went 
to  church;  his  fait^h  in  its  teachings  was  shaken,  and 
the  life  of  the  priests  he  knew  hy  experience  wa^ 
far  from  what  it  should  be,  and  they  had  lost  their  in- 
fluenee  over  him  and  made  him  indifferent  as  to  the 
faith  of  his  fathers.  As  with  most  of  the  Russians,  with 
his  indifference  to  the  truth,  he  had  entered  a  state  of 
spiritual  deadness  which  had  brought  on  with  it  a  sort 
of  stupor  of  mind  and  carelessness  to  all  that  has  to  do 
with  the  worship  of  God  in  truth. 

At  his  words  his  wife  started  up  from  her  work. 
"Ah,  how  soon,"  she  said  with  a  sigh. 

At  the  time  our  story  begins  there  was  a  spiritual 
revival  at  the  quiet  little  place  K .  The  authori- 
ties had  been  alarmed  at  the  awakening  which  was 
bringing  crowds  to  the  meetings  in  the  recently  built 
hall  that  the  villagers  had  set  up  for  that  work.  Num- 
bers were  being  converted  in  this  little  village.  For 
this  cause  it  was  planned  by  the  authorities  to  send  out 


50  MODERN  BAPTIST 

a  missionary  supported  by  the  Greek  Orthodox  Church, 
to  prevent  the  people  attending  those  Baptist  services 
and  try  to  paralyze  the  power  of  this  teaching  which 
was  making  such  an  impression  on  the  minds  of  the 
people.  Ivanoff,  just  then  in  need  of  work,  had  been 
recommended  to  the  authorities  for  that  work.  They 
supposed  that  he  as  a  son  of  a  priest  could  be  relied 
upon.  As  he  possessed  some  culture  and  ability,  it  was 
thought  he  could  attend  to  the  needed  work  mth  de- 
sired results.  His  appointment  had  been  made  some 
time  ago  and  now  he  had  to  hurry  to  the  spot,  having 
lingered  some  time,  brdng  reluctant  to  leave  the  home 

he  had  so  long  enjoyed  a.t  T .     His  wife,  though 

far  from  being  eager  to  leave  their  little  abode  to  w^hich 
she  had  so  long  been  used,  thought  it  grand  that  her 
husband  should  be  named  for  such  a  high  post,  to  fight 
the  accursed  sect  she  had  heard  so  much  about.  She 
loved  the  faith  of  her  fathers,  never  failed  to  keep  the 
sacred  lamp  burning  before  her  ikon,  and  liked  on 
Sundays  and  other  holidays  to  make  herself  smart  and 
go  to  church.  It  seemed  to  her  verj'  dreadful  to  go 
against  the  faith  of  her  fathers  and  violate  the  laws  of 
the  ''Mother  Church",  as  she  heard  those  audacious  sec- 
tarians v\^ere  doing.  To  study  tl^e  two  characters  one 
would  have  been  led  to  tliink  that  Natalia  shoiild  ha^'e 
fulfilled  the  duties  assigned  her  husband  far  better,  for 
her  heart  burned  with  a  true  zeal  for  the  Church  she 
was  born  in,  and  it  was  this  zeal  which  created  in  her 
energy  enough  to  exchange  her  cherished  home  for  the 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  51 

more  distant,  strange  and  out-of-the-way  place  without 
miiT'muring.  It  was  to  stand  for  the  ''faith  of  our 
fathers",  she  said  to  herself  when  her  husband  wa-^  corr- 
mi^sioned  and  this  comforted  and  inspired  her.  The  in- 
difference of  TvanofF  had  been  well  concealed  by  the 
elrorts  of  his  wife,  for  she  always  made  him  accompany 
her  to  church  whenever  she  could,  and  she  led  him  to 
fast  and  reverently  bow  before  the  sacred  pictures.  In 
this  way  the  true  state  of  his  mind  was  little  known. 
He  used  to  play  cards  and  drink  and  smoke,  but  that, 
according  to  tlie  people's  views  was  quito  natural,  for 
no  one  in  Russia  expects  more  of  us  than  that  we  shall 
worship  God  according  to  the  customs  and  forms  of 
our  country. 

With  some  fuss  and  difRculties  due  to  the  change 
of  place  and  transport  of  things^  the  couple  found 
themselves  at  last  at  their  destinatirn  a  short  time 
after  this.  They  settled  close  by  the  village  chosen 
l^y  the  Baptists  of  which  there  was  so  much  talk.  Na- 
talia's heart  was  burning  with  indignation  against  the 
faithful  servants  of  God.  Stories  had  been  told  to  her 
of  how  they  were  teaching  the  people  to  curse  the  ikou, 
despise  the  Church  and  ignore  the  traditions  of  the  an- 
cient fathers.  She  had  been  taught  to  regard  them  as 
heretics.  AVith  trembling  hands  and  much  eai-eriiess 
she  prepared  the  things  for  her  husband's  first  visit  to 
the  heretic  village,  which  was  full  of  the  teaching  of 
the  Baptists. 

''They  have  their  own  Testaments,"  said  the  neigh- 


62  MODERN  BAPTIST 

bors  to  Natalia.  ''You  must  never  believe  a  word  of 
what  they  say.  Their  Gospel  differs  from  the  true  one 
sanctioned  by  our  Church/'  Natalia  felt  proud  that 
her  husband  was  to  stand  for  the  faith  of  their  fathers. 
Before  he  left  she  told  him  to  be  careful  not  to  drink 
too  much,  that  his  mind  might  be  clear  and  his  speech 
powerful.  She  blessed  him,  making  the  sign  of  the 
cross  over  him  as  they  parted,  and  long  that  night  did 
Bhe  kneel  before  her  ikons  making  low  bows  and  re- 
peating half  aloud  the  many  prayers  she  knew  by  heart 
addressed  to  the  Virgin  and  saints  she  was  taught  to 
worship.  Next  morning  she  placed  a  table  before  the 
image  of  St.  Nicholas  in  the  church,  who  slie  believed 
was  able  to  help  her  husband.  Slie  eagerly  awaited 
his  return,  impatient  to  hear  of  his  success  she  was  so 
6ure  of.  She  prepared  a  specially  good  dinner  that  day, 
and  when  at  length  the  httle  cart  rolled  up,  she  ran 
out  to  meet  her  husband.  But  Michael  Ivanoff  looked 
exhausted  and  not  at  all  as  triumphant  as  she  had 
expected.  He  greeted  her  rather  indifferently,  and 
dropped  heavily  into  a  chair  at  the  spread  out  table. 
Natalia  was  too  eager  to  hear  of  the  news  he  had  to 
bring,  to  be  able  to  wait  until  he  had  finished  his  meal. 

''Well,  how  is  it?"  she  asked.  ''Were  you  able  to 
stop  their  mouths?  Were-  you  able  to  persuade  the 
people  not  to  attend  their  meetings?" 

"No,"  answered  Michael  thoughtfully  as  he  raised 
his  hand  to  his  brow  and  passed  his  fingers  through 
his  hair,  "I  could  not  do  so." 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  53 

"Why?"  asked  the  amazed  wife,  as  she  stood  gazing 
at  him  with  wide  open  eyes  full  of  surprise. 

'They  are  not  at  all  evil  people,"  grunted  the  hus- 
band. ''There  is  much  truth  in  what  they  say."  That 
was  all  Natalia  could  get  from  him.  He  did  not  seem 
inclined  to  talk  much  about  the  matter,  and  she  saw  it 
was  no  use  bothering  him.  But  her  curiosity  was 
aroused  and  she  decided  to  go  herself  to  one  of  these 
meetings,  and  so  she  set  out  one  afternoon.  When  she 
asked  her  husband  to  lend  her  the  horse,  which  he 
willingly  agreed  to  do,  he  laughed  a  little  at  the  no- 
tion  of  her  being  present  in  a  heretic  meeting.  At  the 
hour  appointed  for  the  meeting,  Natalia  found  herself 
at  the  little  village  K ,  before  a  long  wooden  build- 
ing which  they  told  her  was  the  hall.  She  was  kindly 
greeted  by  some  women  sftanding  outside  and  welcomed 
into  a  plain,  light  room  full  of  wooden  seats  at  the  end 
of  which  was  a  small  elevation  with  a  pulpit  stand,  on 
which  lay  a  large,  well-worn  Bible.  Some  villagers  were 
already  occupying  seats  and  Natalia  was  welcomed  into 
their  midst.  There  was  something  bright  and  pleasing 
about  the  manners  and  faces  of  those  who  addressed 
themselves  to  her. 

"  'Tis  the  first  time  you  have  come  to  us,"  said  one 
of  the  men.  "Place  yourself  a  little  nearer  so  as  to 
hear  well."  The  woman  obeyed,  for  something  strange 
seemed  to  have  stolen  over  her — a  stillness  had  crept 
over  her  soul,  and  instead  of  enmity  she  felt  attraction 


54  MODERN  BAPTIST 

in  her  heart.    After  a  time,  when  the  hall  was  full,  the 
preacher,  a  middle  aged  man,  arose  to  speak. 

^'Jesus  Christ  came  to  seek  and  to  save  the  lost,"  he 
said.  ^^It  was  not  the  righteous,  but  sinners,  He  came 
to  call  to  repentance.  Those  who  are  whole  need  no 
physician/'  and  he  went  on  to  speak  of  the  tender  love 
and  mercy  of  the  Savior,  who  had  left  His  glorv  on 
high  to  come  and  redeem  a  sinful  and  perishing  \A^rld. 
He  spoke  of  the  Son  of  Man  walking  the  streets  of 
Jerusalem,  healing  the  sick  and  the  blind,  giving  the 
water  of  life  to  the  thirsty  souls  around  Him  and  raising 
the  dead,  and  then  he  said  that  Jesus  is  the  same,  yes- 
terday, today  and  forever;  that  He  is  here  today  seeking 
souls,  healing  the  sick,  offering  liberty  to  those  who  are 
in  the  fetters  of  sin.  His  words  were  earnest  and  full 
of  power.  In  the  silence  of  that  room  Natalia  heard 
some  repressed  sobs,  and  her  own  heart  seemed  melted 
under  the  influence  of  the  Gospel.  She  was  not  hke 
Jesus  who  loved  His  enemies  and  died  for  those  who 
hated  Him.  The  Holy  Spirit  was  convicting  her  of 
sin:  she  had  never  come  face  to  face  with  the  Savior; 
she  wag  used  to  intermediators  between  God  and  her- 
self, and'  it  was  the  first  time  she  had  heard  of  a  Savior's 
redeeming  love  and  His  finished  work  on  the  cross.  In 
the  light  of  His  word,  her  own  righteousness  seemeil  to 
her  as  filthy  rags.  And  wonder  of  wonders,  that  she, 
who  had  thought  to  stand  for  the  faith,  of  her  fathers 
and  fight  the  heretics,  was  convinced  that  they  were 
speaking  the  truth.    After  the  meeting  was  over  she  re- 


HJ^ROES  AND  MARTYRS.  55 

turned  home  full  of  troubled  thoughts.  She  felt  that  the 
teachings  she  had  hitherto  been  ac(?ustomed  to  were 
lifeless  and  powerless,  and  the  love  for  -Jesus,  her  Re- 
deemer, which  was  filling  her  heart  after  she  had  heard 
of  all  He  had  suffered  for  her,  was  surpassing  the  love 
that  she  thought  she  po.sses.sed  for  the  Church.  She  got 
her  Testament  and  carefully  pondered  over  the  places 
pointed  out  by  the  preacher  and  became  comdnced  th-?.t 
her  book  spoke  exactly  the  same  words  he  had  been 
pointing  out.  She  could  not  go  to  bed  that  night,  but 
stayed  long  pondering  over  the  pages  of  the  sacred  book 
until  the  light  of  the  Holy  Spirit  filled  her  heart  and 
she  wept  for  joy  and  gratitude  for  the  blood  .«pilled  for 
her  on  Calvary.  Her  conversion  was  genuine  and 
thorough.  It  was  a  stepping  out  of  darkness  into  pei'fect 
light,  and  as  she  was  true  to  what  she  believed  in  her 
ignorance  .she  was  as  true  to  the  revelation  of  God. 
With  a  trembling  hand  next  morning  .she  took  down 
the  sacred  pictures  hung  up  in  her  room,  extingui^^hed 
the  lamp  she  had  so  carefully  kept  burnina;  through 
the  years  and  stowed  it  all  aiway  in  a  dark  closet  where 
she  kept  plunder.  There  was  no  room  for  these  dead 
ordinances  in  her  heart  since  she  had  met  the  li\'ing 
God.  She  did  not  stop  to  con,sider  long  about  it,  as 
she  knew  her  husband  was  so  indifferent  to  the  things 
of  God.  Her  heart  was  full  of  joy  and  .=:he  was  thinking 
of  the  timie  when  she  could  again  go  to  the  meetinc;, 
and  .she  wondered  what  her  husband  would  say.  Strunge 
to  say  she  felt  afraid  to  .gpeak  to  him  at  once  and  asked 


56  MODERN  BAPTIST 

God  to  show  her  how  to  do  so.  To  her  great  surprise, 
he  got  terribly  enraged  when  he  discovered  she  had 
taken  the  sacred  pictures  off  the  walls  and  extinguished 
the  lamp.  The  man  w^ho  had  seemed  so  indifferent  and 
careless  to  religion  turned  into  a  wild  beast. 

''How/'  he  exclaimed  furiously,  '^You  are  going  to 
follow  the  teaching  of  these  heretics,  and  going  to  be- 
come a  Baptist  like  them !'' 

"But  they  speak  the  truth,"  she  s^aid  timidly. 
"You  yourself  told  me  they  were  good  people." 

"Yes,  yes,"  he  answered,  "but  I  did  not  care  about 
it.     I  never  meant  to  follow  them,  or  see  you  do  so.'' 

"But  you  must  think  of  your  soul,'*'  persisted  Na- 
talia earnestly.  "If  you  do  not  receive  the  gift  of  God 
you  will  die  in  your  sin.  God's  word  says  that  drunkards 
cannot  inherit  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and  you  know  you 
are  often  drunk." 

"I'll  teach  you  how  to  preach!"  exclaimed  the  fu- 
rious husband,  and  snatching  the  stunned  woman  by  the 
arm,  he  inflicted  a  heavy  blow  on  her  back.  It  wa^s 
the  first  time  Natalia  had  met  with  such  treatment, 
and  her  heart  throbbed,  and  the  tears  liowed  from  her 
eyes.  Her  husband  seemed  ashamed  of  himself  and 
moved  away.  She  did  not  say  a  word  of  rebuke,  but 
falling  on  her  knees  and  covering  her  face  Avith  her 
hands,  she  pleaded  aloud  to  God  that  He  would  forgive 
him  and  make  the  light  shine  into  his  soul  as  He  had 
done  into  hers. 

"You  may  ill  treat  me  as  you  like,"  she  said  softly, 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  57 

arising  from  her  knees,  ''but  one  thing  you  may  know 
is  that  I  love  you  and  will  always  pray  for  you."  The 
husband  left  the  room. 

''Blessed  are  they  who  are  persecuted  for  righteous- 
ness' sake,  for  theirs  is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,"  stole 
over  the  heart  of  Natalia.  She  thought  Jesus  was 
whispering  these  words  to  her  soul.  It  was  the  first 
time  she  was  suffering  for  Him  who  had  suffered  so  much 
for  her,  and  she  was  glad.  She  could  not  understand 
how  it  was  that  her  husband  who  had  been  so  careless 
and  indifferent  until  now  should  stand  up  so  for  the 
things  w^hich  used  to  be  dear  to  her,  but  which  had 
become  worthless  since  she  knew  there  is  no  mediator 
between  man  and  God  hut  Jesus  Christ.  What  should 
she  do?  "Well,"  she  thought,  "it  will  surely  go  off. 
He  will  not  care  about  it,  and  if  he  comes  to  the  meetingr; 
he  will  soon  understand  the  darkness  he  is  in."  She 
spoke  little  that  day,  but  w^ent  quietly  about  her  duties 
and  was  particularly  kind  to  Michael.  As  they  were 
fiitting  that  evening  on  the  doorstep  in  front  of  their 
cottage  she  asked  him  if  he  would  read  the  Scriptures 
with  her. 

"Get  away,"  said  the  man  angrily,  "I  do  not  want 
to  hear  any  more  of  that.  Go  and  find  the  ikons  and 
hang  them  up  again.  I  shall  have  none  of  this  non- 
sense in  my  house."  Natalia  rose  and  went  indoors. 
What  was  she  to  do?  She  could  not  obey  her  husband's 
orders.  She  could  not  w^orship  her  idols  any  more. 
Then  she  stole  away  into  the  little  garden  behind  the 


58  JVIODERN  BAPTIST 

house,  and  there  in  the  bushes  on  her  knees,  wept  be- 
fore God,  praying  that  He  would  soften  her  husband's 
heart  and  win  him  to  Himself.  Meanwhile  the  hiLsband, 
seeing  his  orders  had  not  been  obeyed,  angrily  sum- 
moned her  and  demanded  to  be  shown  where  the  pic- 
tures were,  and  when  Natalia  refased  to  carry  out  his 
orders  and  hang  up  the  pictures  he  hung  them  up  him- 
self, aind  said  he  did  not  want  the  neighlx)rs  to  despise 
them.  When  Natalia  refused  to  light  the  lamp  she 
had  formerly  so  carefully  trimmed  he  again  got  into 
a  fury  and  beat  her  with  'his  cane.  And  so  her  bitter 
troubles  began.  But  she  stood  firm  in  her  faith  and 
though  kind  and  good  to  him,  she  re/used  to  obey  when 
he  wanted  her  to  be  unfaithful  to  her  God.  When  she 
was  able  to  steal  'away  to  the  meetin.gs  she  did  so,  but 
when  that  was  impossible  she  patiently  waited  at  home, 
reading  the  Scriptures  and  praying.  One  day  her  hus- 
band threatened  to  kill  her  if  she  would  not  give  up 
her  Baptist  notions,  and  after  a  severe  beating  so  that 
her  body  was  all  in  bruises  and  bleeding,  he  put  her  into 
a  cart  and  took  her  to  his  church  along  an  exceedingly 
rough  road  so  that  her  aching  Umbs  were  painfully 
jerked,  inflicting  terrible  suffering. 

•'I  shall  make  you  suffer  worse,"  said  the  cr'iel  man, 
"unless  you  promise  to  take  the  holy  sacrament  -when 
I  bring  you  to  the  priest.  Will  you  do  it?"  he  continued 
harshly,  stopping  the  horse  by  the  road. 

"No,"  said  the  faithful  servant  of  God  gently,  but 
firmly,  "you  may  kill  me  if  you  like,  but  I  shall  not 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  59 

go  back  into  the  darkness.  And  with  all  that  you  may 
know  one  thing,  and  that  is,  that  I  love  you  and  that 
I  pray  for  you." 

So  Michael  struck  his  horse  and  continued  his  cniei 
drive.  In  spite  of  all  his  threats  and  those  of  the  priest, 
Natalia  stood  firm  and  was  taken  home  as  she  had  been 
brought. 

Another  day  when  she  was  driving  out  with  her  hus- 
band he  threatened  to  throw  her  under  the  wheels  of 
an  oncoming  train  if  g^he  would  not  give  up  her  faitt , 
but  s/he  meekly  replied,  "Feel  perfectly  free  to  do  what- 
ever you  like  wit>h  me,  for  I  cannot  leave  my  Savior, 
but  must  remain  true  to  Him  until  the  end."  xlnd 
every  time  she  would  end  with  the  words,  ''You  may 
know  that  I  love  you  and  will  always  pray  for  you.'' 
She  was  beginning  to  waste  aw.ay  under  the  piessurc  ol 
her  hardened  husband,  who  seemed  bent  on  bnnging 
her  back  to  the  Greek  Orthodox  faith  at  any  cost. 
Whenever  Natalia  could  speak  a  word  for  her  Savior 
and  His  saving  grace  she  w^ould  be  sure  to  do  so.  But 
where  words  could  not  influence  she  tried  to  shine  by 
her  faithful  and  pure  life,  which  spoke  louder  than 
any  sermon. 

One  night  after  long  meditation  and  prayei-,  Na- 
talia crept  away  from  home  to  see  a  young  preacher 
who  had  come  from  some  distance  to  preach  in  the  little 
village.  She  h'ad  learned  from  the  Word  of  God  and 
from  what  she  had  heard  from  hi.^  faitliful  serv^ant  that 
we  must  repent,  believe  and  be  baptized.   The  Scriptures 


60  MODERN  BAPTIST 

were  so  plain  on  this  point  that  there  was  no  question  in 
her  mind  about  the  matter.  She  must  obey  God's  com- 
mand to  the  full,  and  though  she  knew  her  husband 
would  be  very  angry,  she  decided  to  be  baptized.  So 
it  wa5  to  this  young  preacher  she  went  to  tell  of  her 
con\dction,  and  the  brave  man,  in  spite  of  all  the  danger 
of  the  case,  was  faithful  to  his  calling.  In  the  stillness 
of  that  night  in  the  waters  of  the  little  river  which 
flowed  through  that  region,  Natalia  v/as  bapt'zed.  After 
that  sihe  seemed  to  grow  braver  than  ever,  having 
realized  that  she  was  dead  and  buried  with  her  Savior 
and  must  now  live  the  resurrection  life,  looking  for- 
ward to  the  prize  beyond.  I  need  not  tell  you  how  fu- 
rious her  husband  was  when  he  learned  what  she  had 
done.  He  vowed  he  would  kill  the  young  minister  who 
dared  to  perform  the  ceremony,  and  for  a  long  time  it 

was  dangerous  for  brother  V to  appear  in  these 

parts  of  the  countrj^,  and  whenever  he  came  he  risked  his 
life,  but  this  did  not  prevent  him  from  serving  his 
Master  faithfully  and  continue  brave  in  fulfilling  His 
commands. 

Jesus,  in  the  meantime,  Avas  seeking  Alichael  tihe 
same  as  He  had  been  seeking  Natalia,  and  through  the 
instrumentality  of  this  holy  w^oman  He  was  breaking 
that  hard,  dead  heart.  As  he  would  not  give  in  to  the 
w^ord  of  love  the  Lord  had  to  use  hard  blows.  After 
some  time  under  the  influence  of  this  cruel  treatment, 
Natalia  got  severely  ill,  and  only  then  Michael  seemed 
to  understand  what  he  had  done.     His  conscience  was 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  61 

rebuking  him,  and  he  felt  miserable.  The  dying  wo- 
man never  murmured,  nor  complained,  nor  rebuked 
him.  She  had  always  a  word  of  love  and  gentleness. 
And  thus  sihe  passed  away  after  much  i?uffering,  leaving 
a  ray  of  light  behind  her  and  a  message  that  would 
never  die.  The  influence  of  her  life  could  not  be  lost. 
Michael  was  left  alone  and  often  would  it  seem  to  him 
that  he  heard  the  gentle  words  of  his  wife,  telling  him 
the  story  of  Je.?us'  love  and  her  figure  would  rise  before 
him.  To  dispel  tliis  \dsion  he  took  to  drink  and  began 
living  a  loose  life,  until  his  parents  became  alarmed 
and  thought  that  they  must  find  him  a  wife  who  would 
keep  him  in  hand  and  put  him  right.  And  he  did 
marry  and  thought  he  would  be  happy  now,  forgetting 
all  the  past.  He  thought  he  would  pray  much  and  go  to 
church  and  fast  as  he  used  to,  but  tliis  gave  him  no 
peace.  But  what  was  most  grievous,  he  could  not  get 
on  vdih  hi?  new  wife.  She  was  never  satisfied ;  she  m'ade 
the  home  quite  unattractive  to  him  and  the  unhappy 
man  would  often  try  to  steal  away.  He  found  no  satis- 
faction in  the  rites  of  his  Church  and  no  comfort  in 
his  home,  so  he  decided  he  would  try  and  seek  for  both 
in  the  meetings  of  the  Baptists  hitherto  despised  by  him 
but  so  much  loved  by  his  Natalia.  xVnd  so  he  w^nt  in 
there  among  the  children  of  God,  and  his  heart  seemed 
to  find  satisfaction ;  the  living  Word  of  God  seemed  to 
suit  his  spirit  and  he  learned  to  love  the  people  he  had 
cursed  before.  Ah,  how  he  regretted  that  he  had  not 
come  before  and  spared  himself  the  loss  of  his  tender 


62  MODERN  BAPTIST 

wife.  Often  and  often,  in  the  moments  of  anguish. 
he  seemed  to  heai*  her  gentle  voice  snying,  "One  thin^ 
you  may  know,  I  love  you  and  am  pra^nnc;  for  you.'* 
How  different  to  the  wife  he  now  has,  and  he  seemed 
to  understand  the  power  of  the  life  that  had  pa^ped 
away.  He  seemed  to  realize  that  all  these  years  he  had 
been  giving  himself  an  instrument  into  the  hands  of 
Satan,  and  lie  was  bitterly  ashamed  to  think  he  was  the 
cause  of  so  much  sorrow  and  suffering  to  his  Natalia. 
He  learned  to  love  the  Gospel  which  Natalia  had  left 
behind  her,  and  often  in  the  quiet  of  the  evenino  he 
would  muse  over  its  pages,  and  the  words  of  life  began 
to  burn  their  way  through  to  his  heart.  But  it  take>3 
time  to  melt  a  hardened  heart,  and  the  Bord  had  need 
of  patience  and  longsuffering  in  the  case  of  Michael. 
It  was  his  turn  now  to  suffer  from  a  cross  woman,  who 
was  without  any  inclination  toward  spiritual  things.  She 
was  always  grumbling,  bustling  about,  beginning  her 
morning  by  a  horrid  prayer  before  the  ikon,  or  no  pray- 
er at  all,  perfectly  indifferent  to  the  Word  of  God  that 
she  so  often  saw  in  the  hands  of  Michael,  angry  when 
she  heard  of  his  going  to  the  meetings,  never  having 
ft  kind  wx)rd  for  him  and  much  less  for  the  neighbors 
with  whom  she  liked  to  gossip.  And  so  ^lichael  was 
being  driven  to  seek  salvation.  If  he  had  net  put  off 
go  long  he  would  have  spared  himself  much  sorrow.  But 
his  hardened  and  indifferent  heart  seemed  to  have 
needed  the  school  through  which  he  was  passing.  He 
had  rejected  the  mercies  of  God,  ho  bad  now  to  taste 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  63 

the  bitter  cup  of  suffering,  and  it  was  this  suffering 
that  was  revealing  the  Sr.vior's  atoning  love. 

He  was*  broken  down  at  last  in  one  of  the  meetings 
and  gave  hi?  heart  to  Jesus  with  bitter  tears  of  repent- 
ance for  all  the  past,  and  learned  to  follow  his  Savior 
as  faithfully  as  Natalia  did.  He  learned  to  prea'"^h  the 
message  to  others  and  boldly  carried  salvation  to  all 
those  around  in  spite  of  the  many  and  bitter  persecu- 
tions which  arose  around  him.    And  so  the  little  village 

K has  been  the  means  of  bringing  many  souls  to 

Jesus,  and  the  little  Baptist  community  is  prospering 
and  gro^ring  in  numbers  until  this  day. 

MADAM  M.  YASNOVSKY^nee  von  Kruse), 
St.  Petersburc:,  Russia. 


THE  NOVOTlSrYS  OF  PRAGUE,  THE  SUOCESSORS 
OF  HUSS. 

Bohemia,  in  one  respect  at  least,  reminds  us  of  that 
city  described  by  John  in  the  Revelation,  the  city  sur- 
rounded by  a  wall  great  and  high,  and  which  lieth 
foursquare.  To  look  at  Bohemia  on  the  m{ap  is  to  see 
that  the  great  and  high  mountains  which  shut  it  in 
almost  make  a  perfect  square,  with  one  angle  pointing 
almost  directly  to  the  north,  another  to  the  south, 
another  to  the  east  and  another  to  the  west.  This  square 
granite  fence  lets  its  bars  down  at  only  one  point,  to- 
ward the  southeast,  where  there  is  a  narrow  opening  into 
Moravia,  and  it  encloses  a  country  of  twenty  thousand 
square  miles,  about  one-half  the  size  of  Kentucky.  Near 
the  center  of  this  beautiful  square  is  the  city  of  Prague. 

Prague,  a  city  of  over  a  half  million  people,  lies 
picturesquely  on  both  banks  of  the  ^loldau.  My  first 
view  of  the  city  by  night  was  enchanting.  Strolling 
through  the  park  which  overlooks  the  river  spanned  by 
massive  ancient  bridges  I  could  see  the  huge  outline  of 
v/hat  appeared  to  be  castles  or  palaces  on  the  other  side. 
I  could  hear  a  band  playing  in  the  distance.  The  morn- 
ing' did  not  dissipate  the  spell  of  the  evening.  Prague 
unites  a  European  solidity  vdih  an  Asiatic  splendor. 


66  MODERN  BAPTIST 

Its  heights  are  imposing  with  domes  and  spires  and 
turrets;  its  riversides  lovely  with  trees  and  promenades. 
The  streets  present  alternations  of  medieval  arches  and 
towers,  with  splendid  modern  shops.  No  city  outside  of 
Italy  lays  stronger  hold  on  the  imagination  or  more 
binds  the  memory  than  "hundred-towered,  golden 
Prague."  The  heart  is  stirred  with  thoughts  of  the 
Thirty  Years'  War  which  started  and  stopped  here,  of 
Jerome,  of  Ziska,  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren  and  of 
Huss.  Although  ages  of  persecution,  suffering,  violence 
and  exile  stretch  between,  John  Huss  m'ust  nevertheless 
be  recognized  as  the  forerunner  of  the  present  evangel- 
ical movement  in  Bohemia.  A  knowledge  of  him  and  of 
the  history  he  made  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  a  true 
understanding  of  existing  conditions. 

Huss  and  Prague  are  names  indissolubly  linked  to- 
gether. In  the  early  years  of  the  fifteenth  century  there 
was  no  man  so  popular  in  Prague  as  John  Huss,  Rector 
of  the  University,  Confessor  to  the  Queen,  and  the 
eloquent  Preacher  of  Bethlehem  Chapel.  Bethlehem 
Chapel  w^as  a  preaching  place  built  by  private  citizens 
of  Prague  who,  weary  of  Latin  masses  and  music  and 
full  of  the  growing  national  spirit,  wanted  a  place  where 
they  could  hear  popular  Biblical  preaching  in  the  Bo- 
hemian tongue  which  could  not  be  heard  in  the  churches 
and  cathedrals  where  Latin  and  German  were  the  only 
languages. 

The  responsibilities  of  his  position  as  preacher  of 
Bethlehem  Chapel  were  to  get  Huss  into  trouble  some 


JOSEPH  XOVOTNY. 


(67) 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  69 

day.  BethleTiem  mieans  ''a  house  of  bread."  The  men 
of  Prague  wanted  bread.  They  were  sick  of  husks,  of 
masses  mumbled  by  unintelligible  priests.  Where  shall 
he  find  bread  to  break  to  the  hungry  people?  He  is  led 
to  an  earnest  study  of  the  Scriptures  and  of  Wiclif's 
writings.  At  first  he  had  been  prejudiced  against  Wiclif, 
but  the  more  he  read  him  the  more  he  found  himself  in 
agreeanent  vriih.  him.  He  translated  his  writings  and 
commended  them  to  the  people. 

Then  the  trouble  began  to  brew.  The  Council  of 
the  University  of  Prague  declared  the  writings  of  Wiclif 
heretical  and  issued  orders  that  no  one  was  to  teach 
or  maintain  them  either  in  private  or  in  public.  Huss, 
who  was  characterized  more  by  fearlessness  and  passion 
for  the  truth  than  by  even  his  learning  and  eloquence, 
refused  to  obey  the  order,  and  started  on  the  rugged 
road  that  would  lead  him  to  the  fire  by  and  by. 

The  first  definite  riipture  between  Huss  and  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  Church  was  brought  on  by  his  attitude 
towaTd  the  papacy.  Wiclif's  watchword  had  been,  ''Back 
to  the  Bible."  The  watchword  of  Huss  became,  ''Back 
to  Christ."  He  said  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  head  of 
the  church,  and  he  insisted  that  priests  and  prelates  and 
popes  and  all  earthly  mediators  must  stand  out  of  the 
way  that  the  sinner  might  through  Christ  alone,  the 
one  Mediator,  have  access  to  God.  From  the  pulpit  of 
Bethlehem  Chapel  he  began  to  raise  his  eloquent  voice 
against  the  avarice  and  arrogance,  the  greed,  licentious- 
ness and  corruption  of  the  Roman  ecclesiastics  and  to 


70  MODERN  BAPTIST 

denounce  their  traffic  in  holy  things,  the  sale  of  indul- 
gences and  pardons. 

Then  there  was  a  howl.  Monks,  priests  and  bishops 
united  in  the  hoarse  chorus:  '^Heresy,  heresy!  Down 
with  him!  He  is  a  devil  incarnate,  a  heretic.'^  A  bull 
from  the  pope  forbade  Huss  to  preach  in  Bethlehem 
Chapel,  and  the  archbishop  of  Prague  proceeded  to 
issue  a  solemn  and  formal  excommunication  against  the 
heretic  Huss  and  his  adherents. 

Huss  w^as  not  to  be  silenced  so  easily.  He  had  a  higher 
Master  than  the  archbishop  of  Prague  or  the  arch-fiend 
(no  finer  title  is  applicable  to  Pope  John  XXIII)  at 
Home.  He  went  right  on  preaching  at  Bethlehem 
Chapel,  and  the  people  flocked  to  hear  their  hero  in  even 
greater  numbers  than  before.  As  many  as  ten  thousand 
are  stated  to  have  been  present  sometimes,  made  up  of 
royalty,   nobility,  students  and  citizens. 

Then  things  hurried  to  a  crisis.  The  sentence  of 
excommunication  which  had  been  passed  upon  Huss  by 
the  archbishop  was  renewed  by  the  pope,  and  Prague 
was  put  under  the  interdict. 

PIuss  bowed  to  the  thunderstorm  not  for  a  moment. 
Like  Wiclif  he  believed  that  no  man  could  be  excom- 
municated unless  he  had  first  excommunicated  himself. 
But  the  city,  his  beloved  Prague  that  had  harbored  him 
so  long,  was  suffering  on  his  account.  So  for  the  sake 
of  the  city  he  took  himself  away. 

His  exile  from  Prague  had  another  result  than  the 
pope  and  his  minions  intended.     It  contributed  to  the 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  71 

spread  rather  than  the  suppression  of  his  views.  Never 
should  the  voice  of  Huss  be  heard  again  from  the  Beth- 
lehem pulpit,  but  the  '^heretic"  had  the  woods,  ^'God's 
first  temples."  He  had  the  sky-domed  fields.  He  became 
a  fire-filled  evangelist.  His  power  was  multiplied.  The 
people  streamed  to  hear  him  from  every  quarter.  His 
influence  went  out  to  the  ends  of  Bohemia.  He  lighted 
his  bonfires  all  over  the  land,  bonfires  destined  to  make 
a  mighty  conflagration.  And  there,  under  God's  clear 
sky,  the  truth  came  to  him  in  fuller  measure.  Qirist 
became  all  in  all  to  him.  ^^Back  to  Christ,"  he  cried 
with  more  emphasis  than  ever.  And  the  people  were 
astonished  at  his  doctrine,  for  he  spoke  as  one  having 
authority,  and  not  as  the  priests.  And  in  the  market- 
place, on  the  street,  on  the  highway  the  people  repeated 
his  burning  words. 

Then  came  the  end.  Huss  was  summoned  to  the 
Council  of  Constance.  He  wrote  a  farewell  letter  to  the 
Bohemian  people  whonn  he  loved  so  well,  and  intrepidly 
set  his  face  toward  Constance.  The  tigers  were  waiting 
for  him.  They  played  with  their  prey  for  a  few  weeks, 
then  showed  their  claws.  After  months  of  confinement 
in  a  loathesome  cell  having  the  dimensions  of  a  grave, 
the  dungeon  doors  were  opened,  and  John  Huss,  emaci- 
ated, broken  in  health,  was  dragged  before  his  judges. 
Broken  in  health,  but  unbroken  in  spirit.  There  was 
the  travesty  of  a  trial.  Judges  there  were,  but  no  justice. 
He  would  not  recant.  Let  them  glare  as  they  "v\411  and 
spit  their  venom  as  they  may,  but  how  could  John  Huss 


72  MODERN  BAPTIST 

recant?  He  was  pronounced  "a  manifest  heretic."  They 
went  through  the  childish  mummery  of  degrading  him 
from  the  priesthood.  This  was  followed  by  a  proclama- 
tion commending  his  body  to  the  flam.^s  and  his  soul 
to  the  devil.  And  so  this  humble  seeker  of  truth,  grop- 
ing for  a  clearer  vision  of  God,  found  his  way  into  that 
High  Presence  through  the  martyr's  fire  on  July  6, 
1415,  on  the  forty-sixth  anniversary  of  his  birth. 

'They  do  not  fall   who  die  in  a  great  cause. 

The  block  may  soak  their  gore ; 
Their  heads  may  sodden  in  the  sun; 

Their  limbs  be  strung  to  the  city  gates 
Or  castle  walls;  but  still 

Their  spirits  walk  abroad." 

When  Huss  voice  was  hushed  it  did  not  sink  into 
eternal  silence.  It  has  gone  on  thundering  through  all 
the  years  since.  His  cry  for  liberty  and  pure  religion 
is  still  heard  on  earth,  and  shall  go  on  being  heard  until 
every  shackle  is  broken,  and  the  Christ,  whose  echo  he 
was,  shall  have  made  all  men  free  and  all  worship  pure. 

Huss  appealed  to  the  Bible  as  the  only  authority  in 
religion ;  believed  in  the  sole  headship  of  Christ  over  the 
church;  taught  the  priesthood  of  all  believers;  and  re- 
jected most  of  the  sacramental  system  of  the  Roman 
Church.  His  message  found  a  prepared  soil.  The  Bo- 
hemians had  the  Scriptures  in  their  own  language.  The 
Bible  published  in  Prague  in  1487  was  ''the  first  instance 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  73 

bn  record  of  the  application  of  the  newly  invented  art 
of  printing  to  the  multiplication  of  the  Scriptures  in  a 
living  tongue."  Huss'  followers  became  even  more  evan- 
gelical than  he  was  and  multiplied  until  all  Bohemia 
was  radiant  with  the  promise  of  leading  the  world  back 
to  primitive  Christianity. 

More  than  a  century  before  the  hisitorical  Reforma- 
tion under  Luther  and  Calvin,  the  new  faith  in  Bohemia 
had  become  vital  enough  to  send  a  missionary  to  Scot- 
land, Paul  Craw,  who  there  gained  the  crown  of  mar- 
tyrdom. On  the  parched  desert  of  the  middle  ages 
sprang  up  the  beautiful  blossom  of  the  ''Unity  of  Bo- 
hemian Brethren."  The  Bohemian  Brethren  were  Bap- 
tists in  nearly  every  essential,  differing  chiefly  in  church 
organization. 

After  this  hopeful  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury came  the  disastrous  Thirty  Years'  War,  followed 
by  storms  of  hate  and  bloody  persecution  for  ages.  It 
is  an  old  saying  now  that  ''the  blood  of  the^  martyrs 
is  the  seed  of  the  church."  The  history  of  Bohemia 
affords  a  notable  exception  to  this  rule.  The  evangelical 
faith  was  well-nigh  extinguished  by  fire,  sword,  scaffold 
and  exile.  The  Jesuits  of  Austria  made  the  nation 
Roman  Catholic  again.  Bohemda  was  stripped  of  the 
glorious  results  of  its  past,  and  robbed  of  the  best  possi- 
bilities of  its  future.  The  systematic  uprooting  of  Protest- 
antism, which  has  its  parallel  only  in  the  story  of  the 
Huguenots,  reduced  the  population  of  Bohemia  from 
three  million  to  eight  hundred  thousand.    The  Jesuits 


74  MODERN  BAPTIST 

did  their  work  so  well  that  this  ^'cradle  of  the  Reforma- 
tion" is  today  regarded,  with  Austria  proper,  as  the  last 
great  European  stronghold  of  the  papacy. 

The   Second  Reformation. 

In  spite  of  the  storms  of  centuries  a  ''hidden  seed" 
sur\dved  consisting  of  such  who  cherished  the  writings 
of  Huss  and  Comenius,  and  who  secretly  perpetuated 
their  faith  by  implanting  in  their  children  loyalty  to 
the  Bohemian  Bible.  From  this  kernel  we  are  now 
witnessing  a  new  evangelical  growth.  On  the  ruins  of 
the  old  Bohemian  Brethren  movement  is  founded  our 
Baptist  work  in  Bohemia. 

True,  Rome  still  keeps  up  her  ancient  intolerance. 
Our  people  can  meet  legally  only  for  ''family  worship." 
No  Sunday  school  is  allowed.  To  distribute  the  Bible  is 
forbidden.  To  give  away  a  tract  is  to  transgress  the 
law.  BaptisiiijS  are  illegal,  and  have  been  attended  by 
the  whistling  of  shots,  fired  by  concealed  gendarmes. 

Yet,  in  defiance  of  the  law,  in  spite  of  every  obstacle, 
our  cause  is  growing.  The  first  Baptist  church  in  Prague 
was  founded  twenty-five  years  ago  by  Henry  Novotny, 
and  he  is  still  pastor.  There  are  now  in  Prague  three 
Baptist  preaching  places  and  in  all  Bohemia  twenty. 
Hundreds  of  Bibles  are  sold  and  thousands  of  tracts 
distributed  every  year. 

Henry  Novotny,  the  modern  apostle  of  Bohemia,  ia 
a  man  of  rare  simplicity  of  spirit  and  of  finest  culture. 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  75 

He  is  a  pure  Cech  and  was  born  in  a  village  near 
Prague,  in  1846.  A  devout  Catholic  until  his  twentieth 
year,  he  was  then  brought  under  the  influence  of  the 
Presbyterian  mission  in  Prague.  Within  a  few  months 
after  his  conversion  he  heard  the  call  to  preach  the 
Gospel  to  his  fellow-countrymen.  Under  thg  impulse  of 
this  impression  he  proceeded  to  Basle,  in  Switzerland, 
where  he  spent  four  years  in  the  Presbyterian  college, 
afterwards  taking  a  further  course  in  the  Free  Church 
College  in  Edinburgh.  On  his  return  home  he  became 
pastor  of  the  Reformed  church  in  Prague.  But,  as  wiih 
Oncken  of  Germany  and  Nilson  of  Sweden,  the  Scrip- 
tures were  too  much  for  him.  So  in  1885  Henry  No- 
votny  resigned  his  church,  journeyed  to  Lodz,  in  Russian 
Poland,  and  was  there  baptized  by  Rev.  Charles  Ondra. 
Returning  to  Prague  he  began  to  preach  and  influence 
people  until  sixteen  were  baptized  and  a  Baptist  church 
was  constituted.  Gradually  the  work  has  spread  under 
the  influence  of  our  brother's  self-denying  ministry  un- 
til in  more  than  thirty  towns  there  are  now  m'embers 
of  Baptist  churches  in  Bohemia.  The  church  established 
in  Prague  has  lost  many  by  emigration  to  America, 
but  still  has  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  members.  Ten 
preachers  have  gone  forth  from  this  church  to  shine  as 
stars  in  dark  places. 

Now  that  his  natural  force  is  abating  through  hard- 
ships connected  with  pioneering  in  a  bitterly  hostile 
land,  it  is  gratifying  to  Mr.  Novotny  to  know  tnat  his 
mantle  is  falling  upon  the  shoulders  of  his  son. 


76  MODERN  BAPTIST 

Joseph  Novotny  is  the  youngest  child  of  Henry  No- 
votny,  and  was  baptized  by  his  father  in  1897  when  the 
lad  was  but  eleven  years  of  age.  Joseph  is  a  remarkably 
gifted  young  man.  Not  yet  over  twenty-five  years  old, 
he  has  taken  courses  in  our  Baptist  colleges  in  Hamburg 
and  in  Nottingham,  and  has  studied  in  the  universities 
of  Vienna,  Prague  and  Geneva.  He  has  recently  been 
going  through  his  o-wn  country  and  adjacent  regions 
doing  the  work  of  an  evangelist,  and  has  been  greatly 
used. 

The  fiery  speech,  the  zealous  spirit  and  the  attractive 
personality  of  Joseph  Novotny  won  all  hearts  at  the 
Baptist  World  Alliance  in  Philadelphia.  He  told  several 
incidents  which  may  serve  to  show  that  the  old  Hussite 
spirit  is  not  yet  dead,  and  that  the  choked  wells  are 
being  dug  out. 

In  one  village  some  friends  began  to  read  the  Bible 
and  to  pray.  They  gathered  themselves  together  every 
Sabbath.  One  man  cam*e  from  a  village  a  day's  journey 
with  a  little  piece  of  bread  as  his  only  sustenance,  and 
asked  to  be  allowed  to  read  a  little  in  the  Bible,  that  he 
might  learn  the  truth  by  heart  to  tell  his  neighbors  in 
the  village,  because  there  was  no  Bible  there.  When 
the  authorities  heard  of  this  they  hailed  the  people  be- 
fore the  Justice  of  the  peace.  The  Justice  asked  them 
"What  do  you  want?  Are  you  dissatisfied  with  your 
church?  Are  you  not  satisfied  with  the  priests?  What 
is  the  matter?"  The  answer  came  all  unexpectedly,  "We 


HEROES  AND  MxVRTYRS.  77 

art  dissatisfied  with  ourselves.   Here  in  this  Book  is  our 
only  guide  and  our  only  hope  for  satisfaction." 

Joseph  Novotny's  sister  was  a  missionary  in  the 
Prague  church  and  she  told  her  brother  one  day  that 
she  had  been  visiting  an  old  sick  woman  in  the  darkest 
part  of  Prague.  She  told  her  about  Jesus  and  w^hat  she 
ought  to  do  if  she  w^ould  be  happy.  The  old  woman 
arose  and  said/'Oh,  I  know  it  already.  Look  here!  Here 
is  my  Bible.  I  read  it."  Miss  Novotny  was  astoni>.hed  to 
see  a  Bible  in  the  hand  of  a  Catholic  woman.  '-'Tell 
me,  how  did  you  get  this  Book?"  she  asked.  "Oh,  it  is 
a  long  story,"  said  the  sick  woman.  "Seven  years  ago  I 
had  two  boys,  but  they  were  very  bad  boys,  indeed,  es- 
pecially the  older  one.  He  took  away  every  penny  and 
left  it  in  the  public  house.  All  at  once  there  was  a 
change  in  his  life.  I  did  not  know  how  it  came.  He 
said  he  used  to  go  to  certain  meetings,  and  he  learned 
there  to  pray  and  sing.  He  brought  home  this  Book  in 
which  he  regularly  read.  And  then  he  entered  the  public 
house  no  more.  My  neighbors  told  me  I  could  be  a 
happy  mother.  I  think  God  must  have  given  him  a  new 
brain.  I  could  not  read  the  Bible  then,  and  so  he  read 
it  aloud.  But  soon  he  became  ill,  and  so  he  could  not 
go  to  the  meetings.  His  illness  was  very  serious.  One 
day  he  told  me  he  knew  he  must  die,  but  he  did  not 
fear  death.  He  sang  and  prayed  and  read  the  Bible; 
and  in  a  few  days  he  died.  After  his  death  the  younger 
brother  took  this  Book  and  read  in  it,  and  went  regularly 
to  the  Sunday  school.    The  priest  soon  knew  that  his 


78  MODERN  BAPTIST 

pupil  went  to  the  Sunday  school,  and  he  said  that  the 
boy  spoke  as  'a  heretic'  of  the  religious  instruction  re- 
ceived there.  The  priest  punished  the  lad  with  a  stick, 
imprisoned  him  in  a  dark  chamber,  and  then  asked  him 
if  he  would  go  to  the  heretical  Sunday  school  again.  The 
little  disciple  of  Christ  said  he  could  not  help  it ;  he  would 
go  again.  Then  the  priest  became  so  wild  that  he  threw 
his  scholar  against  the  fireplace.  The  boy  broke  several 
ribs.  He  came  home  and  became  very  sick,  and  died  in  a 
short  time.''  ^'But  how  did  he  die?"  said  the  old  woman, 
with  tears  in  her  eyes,  '^AYith  this  Book  on  his  breast, 
with  peace,  telling  me  about  Jesus,  died  my  dear  son." 
''May  I  die  as  he,"  closed  the  happy  woman  her  story. 
Was  this  little  boy  not  a  hero,  a  martyr,  even  as  John 
Huss,  or  Jerome,  of  Prague? 

The  fact  is  that  Romanism  is  not  growing  amiong 
tne  Bohemians.  Outwardly  it  is  active,  but  in  reality 
it  is  disintegTating  and  losing  its  power.  The  better 
part  of  the  Bohemian  nation  is  tired  of  Catholicism. 
They  have  had  experience  of  its  religious  emptiness. 
The  towns  and  the  educated  people  are  even  more  ac- 
cessible than  the  country.  Henry  Novotny  has  recently 
baptized  a  famous  actress  from  the  National  Theatre,  in 
Prague,  and  a  brilliant  young  nobleman,  a  graduate 
in  honors  of  the  university. 

The  faith  of  the  Baptists  is  congenial  to  the  people. 
The  Baptist  preacher  is  greatly  advantaged  in  that  he 
can  appeal  to  the  glorious  past  of  the  nation.   Its  splen- 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  79 

did  deeds  and  heroic  persons  have  been  penetrated  with 
the  Baptist  spirit. 

Here,  then,  is  one  of  our  great  opportunities  on  the 
continent,  none  greater.  'Could  sufficient  preachers  and 
workers  be  supplied  no  bounds  might  be  set  to  the  work 
that  could  be  done.  The  resources  of  Bohemian  Bap- 
tists are  pitifully  unequal  to  their  task.  If  the  needs  are 
to  be  met  they  must  be  supplied  by  American  and  Brit- 
ish Baptists.  Occasionally  help  has  come  from  English 
and  Polish  friends,  but  in  altogether  inadquate  meosure 
to  establish  the  work  over  so  large  an  area.  Surely  the 
nation  which  incomparably  mx3re  than  any  other  has 
suffered  for  the  Gospel  and  for  freedom  of  conscience 
shall  not  look  to  us  in  vain. 

The  present  pressing  necessity  is  for  a  meeting  house 
in  Prague.  The  Baptists  of  Prague  pay  an  exorbitant 
rent  for  a  small  hall.  By  sacrificial  efforts  they  have 
secured  a  lot  historically  related  to  the  reformed  faith, 
on  which  they  hoped  to  build  a  ^^Huss  House"  to  cost 
not  less  than  ten  thousand  dollars.  Is  it  not  well  for  the 
Baptists  of  Bohemia  thus  to  link  their  work  on  to  that  of 
this  noble  martyr  with  whom  they  hold  so  much  in  com- 
mon? And  should  not  we,  who  share  in  their  heritage, 
have  a  part  in  it?  One  of  Longfellow's  poems  is  founded 
on  an  old  legend  that  the  city  of  Prague  was  once 
besieged  by  an  army  of  e\'il  spirits,  but  when  the  ca- 
thedral bell  sounded  the  hour  of  prayer,  the  prayers  of 
the  saints  were  mightier  than  the  evil  spirits,  and  the 


80  MODERN  BAPTIST 

besieging  army  stole  away.    May  this  legend  prove  pro- 
phetic of  the  triumphs  of  the  "Huss  House." 

On  July  6,  1915,  the  Bohemians  will  celebrate  the 
five  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  martyrdom  of  John 
Huss,  who  is  again  becoming  the  national  hero.  We 
share  with  his  spiritual  descendants  in  Bohemia  in 
cherishing  the  hope  that  the  memorable  occasion  will 
touch  the  conscience  of  the  nation  and  rekindle  the 
torch  that  for  centuries  was  nearly  extinguished. 
BLenry  Alford  Porter,  D.D., 

Louisville,  Ky. 


WILLIAM  FETLER. 

"Baptist!" 

"Son  of  a  heretic  I" 

"Deceiver  I'' 

The  hoy  at  whom  the  words  were  shouted  heard 
them,  and  his  slender  form  straightened  and  he  held 
his  head  high  and  his  gray  eyes  flashed.  It  was  nothing 
unusual  for  this  crowd  of  idle  boys  and  others  whom 
he  passed  on  the  streets  to  speak  to  him  in  scorn  and 
to  point  their  fingers  at  him  and  laugh  at  him,  but  it 
had  never  ceased  to  hurt  the  proud  and  sensitive  spirit 
of  the  lad.  When  he  reached  his  home  and  closed  the 
door,  the  hot  tears  came.  It  made  him  angry  that  they 
should  hate  his  father,  who  was  the  best  man  in  the 
village,  kind  to  his  family  and  always  ready  to  help  any 
of  his  neighbors  who  were  in  trouble.  He  remembered 
as  his  anger  began  to  cool,  how  his  father  al^vays  told 
him  to  be  kind,  and  to  love  those  who  tormented  him, 
and  never  to  speak  to  them  in  anger. 

The  boy  was  William  Fetler  and  his  father,  Andreas 
Fetler,  was  pastor  of  the  Baptist  church  in  the  little 
village  of  Tuckum,  Russia.  William  was  born  at  Talsen, 
in  Courland,  not  far  from  the  Baltic  Sea;  but  before 
he  could  remember,  his  father  moved  with  his  family 


82  MODERN  BAPTIST 

to  Tuckum.  Here  William  went  to  the  public  school 
•where  he  learned  readily,  but  where  he  had  many  un- 
happy hours  on  account  of  the  belief  of  his  father,  who 
read  the  Bible  and  believed  it,  and  broke  with  the  State 
church  and  preached  the  Bible  doctrines  to  the  people. 

While  he  was  still  a  young  boy  the  Lord  spoke  to 
William  and  he  gave  his  heart  to  Him  and  wished  to 
follow  Him  in  baptism.  He  knew  what  it  meant  to 
be  baptized.  He  remembered  that  when  his  father  bap- 
tized the  first  converts  in  the  town,  the  people  followed 
them  to  the  river,  threw  the  clothes  of  the  men  and 
women  into  the  water,  calling  them  ^^dirt"  and  ''de- 
ceivers/' and  laughed  and  jeered,  asking  them  how 
much  they  were  being  paid  for  being  baptized.  They 
threw  stones  at  them  as  they  went  down  into  the  water, 
and  became  so  violent  that  some  of  the  believers  took 
refuge  in  the  home  of  a  sympathetic  baron  nearby.  The 
angry  mob  gathered  about  the  baron's  home  threatening 
his  life  as  well  as  that  of  the  Baptists,  saying  they  would 
burn  his  home  if  he  did  not  deliver  the  believers  to 
them.  But  God  took  care  of  his  own  and  no  harm 
came  to  them  nor  to  the  good  baron.  When  these  be- 
lievers had  gone  to  the  baron's  home,  Andreas  Fetler 
with  others  of  the  brethren  and  sisters  went  back  to  the 
meeting  house,  thinking  there  they  would  be  safe,  but 
they  were  followed  and  large  stones  came  crashing 
through  the  windows.  Williami  had  seen  those  stones 
many  times  for  they  were  piled  up  in  a  corner  of  tlie 
meeting  house. 


avillia:m  fetler. 


(83) 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  85 

After  this  first  time  the  baptisms  were  conducted  at 
night  and  under  many  difficulties.  On  the  night  that 
William  was  baptized  it  was  planned  that  they  should 
meet  at  a  certain  place  on  the  river  bank  which  was 
suitable.  When  it  was  quite  dark  the  little  party  stole 
out  through  the  woods  to  this  place,  and  what  was  their 
surprise  and  chagrin  to  find  that  the  enemies  of  the 
faith  had  heard  of  the  coming  ceremony,  and  had  pre- 
ceded them  to  the  place  to  prevent  it.  So  they  passed 
quickly  and  noiselessly  on,  going  much  further  into  the 
woo^s  and  passing  through  damp  and  muddy  ways, 
found  another  place  deep  in  the  forest.  They  lost  no 
time  in  the  ceremony  for  they  w^ere  ever  expecting  to 
hear  the  jeers  and  laughter  of  their  persecutors. 

After  this,  when  William  would  appear  on  the 
streets,  and  the  boys  and  others  would  cr}^,  ''Baptist, 
Baptist,"  they  failed  to  make  the  boy  angry,  or  to  hurt 
his  feelings,  for  now  that  he  had  the  love  of  the  Savior, 
in  his  heart  he  counted  it  a  joy  to  suffer  for  Him.. 

William  was  a  great  help  and  comfort  to  his  father 
in  his  work.  When  a  lad  of  fifteen  he  would  gather  the 
young  people  together  for  singing  and  prayer,  and  often 
he  would  teach  them  poetry  and  special  songs  and 
would  give  entertainments  for  the  amusement  and  good 
of  the  town.  Many  of  these  young  people  were  saved 
through  these  meetings.  He  was  always  busy.  When 
not  helping  with  the  Sunday  school  work  or  with  the 
young  people,  he  was  reading  or  studying.     He  loved 


86  MODERN  BAPTIST 

poetry  and  in  his  spare  time  wrote  many  excellent 
verses. 

At  sixteen  he  left  home  to  take  a  position  as  a  book- 
keeper in  a  bicycle  store  in  Riga.  There  he  went  to 
work  again  among  the  young  people  and  took  a  great 
interest  in  the  Sunday  school.  Soon  after  his  coming 
he  was  made  president  of  the  Young  People's  Society 
and  his  earnestness  and  zeal  were  remarkable.  Under 
his  influence  a  paper  was  published  regularly  to  which 
the  young  people  contributed  and  which  did  much  good. 
During  four  years  spent  in  Riga  a  purpose  grew  steadily 
in  the  mind  and  heart  of  William  Fetler  to  give  his 
life  to  preaching  the  Gospel;  his  plan  being  to  study 
for  several  years  in  London  and  then  go  to  China  as  a 
missionary.  He  went  to  Spurgeon's  college  for  four 
years.  During  his  stay  in  England  freedom  of  faith 
cam'e  to  his  home  land  and  he  at  once  decided  to  go  back 
and  preach  the  Gospel  among  his  own  people  for  whom 
his  heart  was  yearning.  This  was  a  direct  answer  to  the 
prayer  of  Mr.  Carter,  president  of  the  Pioneer  Mission- 
ary Society,  who  had  been  praying  for  a  preacher  to  take 
the  Gospel  to  Russia,  and  who,  when  William  Fetler 
entered  the  college,  said  to  himself,  'This  is  the  man 
for  Russia." 

For  about  a  year  after  Mr.  Fetler's  return  to  Russia 
he  went  from  place  to  place,  preaching  the  Gospel  and 
baptizing  many  believers.  But  his  heart  turned  toward 
the  great  city  of  St.  Petersburg,  where  there  was  no 
Russian  Baptist  church  and  he  went  there  and  found  a 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  8? 

little  Lettish  church  to  which  he  began  to  preach.  His 
sermons  drew  many  Russians,  and  soon  the  hall  where 
the  Lettish  church  had  been  meeting  was  crowded  out 
and  they  rented  a  larger  hall.  More  and  more  the  con- 
gregations became  Russian,  and  many  Russians  were 
converted  until  they  were  so  strong  that  they  left  the 
Lettish  and  formed  a  church  of  their  own,  with  Mr. 
Fetler  as  pastor. 

Several  years  before  Mr.  Fetler  came  to  St.  Peters- 
burg, there  was  a  little  company  of  believers,  who  did 
not  call  themselves  Baptists,  but  who  would  mteet  secret- 
ly, gathering  one  at  a  time,  at  the  home  of  one  of  the 
believers.  They  accepted  the  New  Testament  as  they 
found  it  and  were  immersed.  Some  of  these  came  to 
the  meetings  when  they  were  held  in  the  Russian  Bap- 
tist church,  and  Mr.  Fetler  recognized  them  as  fellow 
believers  and  learned  that  they  had  been  immersed.  His 
home  was  in  the  house  of  Princess  Lieven.  It  was  there 
he  came  to  know  the  believers  and  they  to  know  of  his 
work  and  belief.  Many  of  them  joined  the  Baptist 
church  and  were  oiven  at  once  special  work  to  do.  Mr. 
Fetler  always  emphasized  the  fact  that  when  one  was 
converted  it  was  not  only  for  his  own  personal  salvation 
but  that  it  was  his  business  to  work  for  others,  trying 
to  lead  them  to  the  Sa^dor.  Members  of  his  church  are 
all  evangelists,  preaching  the  Gospel  to  those  they  meet 
on  the  streets,  in  the  cars,  and  they  preach  the  Gospel 
most  effectively  by  living  it  daily  before  their  neighbors. 

Soon  the  hall  grew  too  small  and  other  preaching 


88  MODERN  BAPTIST 

stations  were  opened  in  every  corner  of  the  city,  over 
which  members  of  his  church  preside.  Preaching  ser- 
vices are  held  in  one  of  them  each  night  of  the  week 
and  Pastor  Fetler  preaches  in  the  main  hall  almost  every 
night  also. 

Mr.  Fetler  is  very  fond  of  children  and  has  gathered 
many  of  them  into  his  Sunday  schools,  which  are  called 
children's  services,  and  large  numbers  of  these  have 
been  saved. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  phases  of  his  work  was 
his  midnight  meetings  at  which  were  gathered  from  the 
streets  of  the  city  those  who  were  deep  in  sin.  At  times 
the  hall  would  be  crowded  with  these  people  who  had 
been  invited  by  the  believers  to  come  to  the  hall.  There 
would  be  a  service  from  eight  until  ten  o'clock  for  be- 
lievers only  and  then  these  men  and  women  would  go 
out  on  the  street  and  begin  with  one  or  two,  telling  them 
of  the  Savior  and  His  love  for  them,  and  soon  a  crowd 
would  gather  and  tactfully  they  would  be  led  to  the 
hall  where  Pastor  Fetler  would  begin  the  meeting 
promptly  at  midnight.  Many  have  been  the  remarka;ble 
conversions  of  these  men  and  women  of  the  streets  and 
their  changed  lives  have  preached  many  powerful  ser- 
mons. 

One  young  girl  was  brought  into  the  meetings  and 
after  the  service  came  forward  and  gave  herself  to  God. 
She  showed  Pastor  Fetler  a  letter  which  she  had  in  her 
pocket.  It  was  a  farewell  to  her  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances.    She  had  meant  to   commit  suicide  that  very 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  89 

night.  When  she  entered  the  church  her  heart  was  hard 
and  as  the  preacher  said,  ''You  are  all  sinners,"  she 
pointed  mockingly  to  herself  and  said  laughingly,  "I 
a  sinner."  But  the  spirit  of  God  touched  her  hard 
heart  and  when  the  pastor  gave  the  invitation  for  those 
who  wished  to  be  prayed  for,  hers  was  the  first  hand 
raised  and  the  tears  were  in  her  eyes  as  she  came  and 
gave  herself  to  God.  She  left  her  life  of  sin  and  went 
to  the  home  of  one  of  the  believers. 

It  was  inconvenient  to  be  always  driven  about  from 
one  hall  to  another,  paying  rent  and  never  feeling  set- 
tled. So  it  entered  Pastor  Fetler's  heart  to  build  a 
prayer  house  which  would  be  adequate  to  the  needs  and 
would  reflect  credit  upon  the  Baptists  of  St.  Petersburg. 
The  church  was  unanimous  and  enthusiastic  in  their 
support  of  this  building  and  all  the  members  gave  all 
and  much  more  than  they  were  able.  Many  of  the 
members  and  some  of  the  sympathizers  gave  their  gold 
rings,  and  bracelets,  and  watches,  and  some  even  had 
the  gold  rims  taken  off  their  spectacles  and  steel  put  on 
that  the  gold  might  go  into  the  building  of  the  house 
of  prayer.  So  the  dream  of  Pastor  Fetler  began  to  take 
shape  and  in  September,  1910,  the  cornerstone  of  a 
magnificent  building  was  laid  on  a  beautiful  site  near 
the  center  of  the  city. 

Mr.  Fetler  was  present  in  Philadelphia  and  by  his 
dignity  and  earnestness  won  the  hearts  of  American 
Baptists.  But  he  had  trouble  getting  away  from  Russia. 
The  St,  Petersburg  authorities  would  readily  have  given 


90  MODERN  BAPTIST 

him  permission  to  come,  but  shortly  before  leaving  for 
Philadelphia,  he  went  to  Moscow,  preached  and  made 
somie  converts.     WTien  the  authorities  there  found  that 
he  was  planning  to  come  to  the  Baptist  World  Alliance, 
he  was  put  under  arrest  and  a  passport  was  refused  him. 
Through  the  intervention  of  his  friends  high  in  au- 
thority at  St.  Petersburg,  a  concession  was  made.     A 
passport  would  be  granted  if  he  deposited  five  thousand 
roubles  (about  two  thousand,  five  hundred  dollars)  as 
bail  for  his  appearance  in  the  fall.    This  concession  was 
not  meant  to  concede  anything,  as  it  seemed  improbable 
that  a  poor  preacher  should  be  able  to  give  such  a  large 
bond.    But  on  hearing  the  conditions  the  London  head- 
quarters of  the  Alliance  at  once  telegraphed  half  the 
amount  and  the  Russian  Evangelical  Society  furnished 
the  other  half.     Then  an  old  charge  of  several  years' 
standing  was  hunted  up,  a  charge  of  winning  converts 
from  the  Greek  church,  and  another  arrest  was  or'dered. 
He  was  warned   and  cleared  across  the  border  just  two 
hours  ahead  of  the  secret  police. 

He  said  of  his  work  in  St.  Petersburg: 
"By  the  grace  of  God  I  began  Russian  Baptist  work 
at  St.  Petersburg  now  nearly  four  years  ago.  The  spirit 
of  God  has  been  working  mightily  in  our  midst  ever 
since.  We  have  baptized  during  this  time  over  four 
hundred  at  the  Capital  and  some  other  places,  where 
we  have  been  preaching  the  unsearchable  riches  of 
Christ.  Over  a  thousand  have  been  registered  at  St. 
Petersburg  for  our  Saturday  night  meeting  for  believers. 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  91 

Such  a  spirit  of  unabating  eagerness  to  know  more  about 
God  is  among  the  people,  that  we  hold  meetings  every 
night  during  the  year,  winter  and  summer.  In  summer 
months,  though  it  is  not  so  hot  with  us  as  in  the  States, 
yet  the  halls  get  so  crowded  with  people,  that  sometimes 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  speak.  In  a  letter  received  the 
other  d)ay  from  one  of  my  workers,  I  am  informed,  that 
just  now  the  atmosphere  in  our  meetings  is  as  it  were 
electrified  with  heat,  because  of  the  crowds  of  people,  and 
compressed  air.  But  they  rather  undergo  that  than 
stay  away  from  hearing  the  Word  of  God.  I  have  a 
preachers'  training  class  where  some  forty  of  my  lay 
preachers  and  helpers,  converts  themselves,  learn  how  to 
tell  others  the  good  news.  Also  a  number  of  Sunday 
schools  and  young  people's  societies  have  been  formed. 

''In  view  of  the  great  need  to  work  among  the  edu- 
cated classes,  I  have  started  a  Thursday  night  lecture  for 
the  students  of  St.  Petersburg  University  and  High 
Schools.  Both  men  and  lay  students  have  been  attending 
these  lectures  in  large  numbers  and  with  growing  in- 
terest. Several  have  been  converted  who  are  now  help- 
ing to  spread  the  Gospel  among  their  fellow-students. 
The  work  has  been  developing  in  the  city  and  neigh- 
borhood, until  now  we  have  about  a  dozen  hired  halls 
for  the  Gospel  work.  For  many  months  already  we 
have  been  facing  with  anxiety  the  problem,  where  to 
gather  the  crowds  willing  to  hear  of  Jesus. 

''We  have  bought,  by  permission  of  the  czar,  a  lot 
of  land,  and  have  started  to  build  a  large  prayer  house, 


92  MODERN  BAPTIST 

to  hold  over  two  thousand  people.  We  have  the  Taber- 
nacle half-way  up  and  Ehenezer,  thus  far  the  Lord  has 
helped  us !  But  now  every  kopek  has  been  spent.  Per- 
sonally, I  have  put  everything  I  could  in  the  work; 
health  and  time,  strength  and  weakness,  and  all  my 
money,  and  over  that  some  fifteen  thousand  roubles,  or 
about  seven  thousand,  five  hundred  dollars,  which  sum 
I  borrowed  on  my  responsibility.  The  building  has 
been  stopped  for  lack  of  funds.  ^Wait,'  said  we,  'we  shall 
go  over  to  our  great  American  brothers,  vast  in  numbers 
and  limitless  in  resources,  and  they,  no  doubt,  will 
gladly  finish  what  we  have  begun,  to  put  up  the  First 
Baptist  Prayer  House  in  the  capital  of  Russia.'  " 

In  the  following  lines  Mr.  Fetler  voices  his  country's 
cry: 

The  Cry  of  Russia. 

Alll  you  listen  to  the  cry  of  Russia? 

Will  you  hearken  as  her' children  weep? 
They  are  hungry — 'but  the  fields  are  barren, 

They  are  thirsty,  and  the  well  is  deep. 

Yea,  and  deep  in  sin  their  soul  is  sunken, 

Miry  clay,  foundation  for  their  feet. 
Ages  came  and  went,  but  no  glad  footsteps 

No  one  came  whose  heart  would  warmer  beat. 

And  they  suffered  till  their  chains  grew  rusty. 
And  they  waited  till  their  eyes  grew  dim, 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  93 

When  for  life  in  very  death  despairing 
Of  a  sudden  they  were  told  of  Him. 

Him  who  suffered  long  before,  and  for  them, 
Him  who  w^aited  long  for  their  return ; 

And  as  Russia's  children  heard  their  Shepherd's  Story, 
How  they  wept  for  joy,  and  hearts  within  did  burn  I 

And  they  clung  to  Him  as  loving  child  to  mother. 

And  again  to  suffer  they  began. 
Now,  however,  smiling  in  their  exile, 

And  in  chains  they  praised  the  Son  of  Man. 

Chains  at  last  are  broken ;  distant  exile  places 
By  the  Cross  are  changed  to  Christian  homes. 

And  the  Word  is  preached  throughout  the  mighty  em- 
pire. 
Both  in  peasant  huts  and  in  the  princely  domes. 

They  are  waiting,  Russia's  millions,  waiting, 

Only  a  few  are  freed  by  Christ  as  yet. 
Who  will  go,  and  who  will  help  the  going? 
Hasten  then,  before  the  sun  is  set 

— Sadie  Starke, 

Louis\411e,  Ky. 


VASILIA  PAVLOFF. 

(An  Autobiography.) 

My  home  is  in  the  city  of  Tiflis,  the  metropolis  of 
Transcaucasia,  Russia.  My  parents  belonsjed  to  Molo- 
kani,  a  sect  akin  to  the  Quakers.  Into  Tiliis  the  Baptist 
faith  was  brought  by  a  German  artisan,  Martin  Kahieit,, 
who  baptized  the  first  Russian  convert,  a  merchant,  Ni- 
kita  Yoronin ;  the  last  gathered  a  small  conirregation  of 
believers  that  consisted  of  seventy-eight  souls  in  1870.  In 
the  same  year  I  was  converted  through  the  grace  of  God 
and  joined  with  this  church.  I  was  sixteen  years  old.  Im- 
mediately after  my  conversion  I  began  to  witness  about 
Christ  and  had  joy  to  see  the  first  fruit  of  my  labor 
in  conversion  of  a  couple.  After  a  short  time  the  elder 
brethren  caused  me  to  preach  in  meetings. 

In  1875  I  went  to  Hamburg,  Germany,  in  order 
to  get  more  knowledge  of  the  Word  of  God  and  Baptist 
church  polity,  where  I  remained  about  a  year.  At  that 
time  there  was  only  a  missionary  school  with  a  six 
months'  course,  but  arriving  in  Hamburg  I  found  there 
no  more  school  in  that  year.  It  was  my  privilege  to 
make  the  acquaintance  of  the  founder  of  the  German 
Baptist  churches,  late  Rev.   J.   G.   Oncken,  who  took 


96  MODERN  BAPTIST 

interest  in  me  and  instructed  a  preacher,  P.  Willrath, 
to  give  me  lessons  in  German  and  theology.  In  1.876  ] 
was  ordained  by  J.  G.  Oncken  as  a  missionary  and  re- 
turned home  to  Tiflis. 

On  my  arrival  home  I  found  the  church  increa^d 
in  numbers,  it  having  forty  members,  among  whom  were 
my  parents,  who  joined  ^ith  the  church  in  my  absence. 
At  this  time  we  enjoyed  yet  of  the  religious  liberty  and 
I  preached  the  Gospel  to  hundreds  of  souls  that  fre- 
quented our  congregations. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  I  made  a  long  jour- 
ney with  Br.  S.  Rodionaff  together,  in  mountains  of 
.Transcaucasia  as  far  as  the  Mount  of  Ararat  and  Caspian 
Sea,  baptizing  believer?  and  la^dng  foundation  of  many 
churches  among  the  Molokani.  In  1880  I  was  even  recog- 
nized by  the  government  as  a  Baptist  pastor.  This 
freedom  we  enjoyed  until  1887.  In  this  period  I  un- 
dertook many  prolonged  missionary  journeys  to  distant 
governments  as  Samara,  Don,  Tourida  Mohiley  and 
other  places  where  I  also  preached  the  glad  tidings  and 
baptized  many  persons  w'ho  built  a  nucleus  for  the  future 
churches.  In  1884  the  knoAvn  Colonel  Pu-i^hkoff  con- 
vened us  to  a  congress  in  St.  Petersburg  that  aimed  to 
unite  iall  believei^  in  Russia  at  which  among  others  were 
present  Dr.  Baedecker  and  Lord  Ratcliff,  but  the  par- 
takers of  this  congress  among  whom  I  was  too,  were 
arrested  and  sent  out  from  the  city  home  and  a  little 
later  the  initiators  of  this  congress.  Colonel  Pushkoff 
and  Count  Karf,  were  also  sent  abroad. 


VASILIA  PAVLOFF. 


(07) 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  99 

In  1887  Pabeolonoszeff,  head  of  the  Orthodox  Greek 
Church,  took  a  set  of  cruel  steps  to  stop  the  Baptist  move- 
ment and  inaugurated  an  era  of  cruel  persecutions.  In 
Transcaucasia  we  were  the  first  victims  of  his  cruel 
regime,  namely,  Brother  N.  Voronin  and  an  Armenian 
pastor,  A.  Amirchanianz,  and  myself,  who  were  sen- 
tenced without  trial  to  four  years  of  banishment  to 
Orenburg  for  the  propagation  of  the  Stundism.  In 
March,  Amirchanianz  and  I,  one  day,  were  suddenly 
seized  and  cast  into  prison  (Brother  Voronin  was  not  at 
home),  where  we  spent  ten  days  with  common  ciiminals, 
and  in  consequence  of  intercession  of  our  friend  we  were 
permitted  to  take  with  us  our  families  and  go  into  exile 
for  a  term  of  four  years  in  attendance  of  a  policeman  at 
our  expense. 

Returning  home  from  tMs  exile  in  1891  I  had 
been  asked  by  the  police  to  give  pledge  not  to  preach  the 
Gospel  any  more,  or  as  they  said  ''to  make  no  sectarian 
propagandism,-'  which  I  decidedly  refused  to  do  for 
conscience'  ^ake.  After  a  short  time  I  was  again  ar- 
rested and  cast  into  prison  without  permission  even  for 
my  wife  to  see  me.  I  was  soon  per  etape  without  taking 
leave  from  my  family  and  brethren.  My  way  went  fron) 
one  prison  to  another  about  forty  days  long;  when  we 
were  going  we  were  chained  in  couples  on  the  left  hands, 
but  in  prison  our  chains  were  taken  away.  I  was  to 
pass  into  eight  prisons  till  I  arrived  at  the  place  of  my 
exile,  where  I  was  put  under  the  oversight  of  the  police, 
not  ha\dng  right  to  leave  the  city  without  permission. 


100  MODERN  BAPTIST 

My  correspondence  w£us  also  "under  the  censure  of  the 
police. 

I  was  sent  alone  and  my  family  cnme  to  me  later, 
but  I  bad  not  long  time  to  live  together  with  them.  In 
July,  1892,  the  Asiatic  cholera  raged  dreadfully  in  the 
city  and  bereaved  me  in  a  week  of  my  dear  wife  and 
four  children ;  and  one  child,  a  girl  of  twelve  years  old, 
a  week  before  was  drowned  while  bathing  in  Ural,  so 
that  I  in  a  fortnight  lost  all  my  family,  save  one  child, 
a  son  of  nine  years  old,  who  lives  till  now.  This  blow 
was  the  hardest  of  all. 

As  the  soil  was  tilled  in  my  first  exile  I  could  have 
more  success  in  my  second  exile;  when  I  arrived  at 
Orenburg,  I  baptized  at  once  fourteen  soul?,  and  during 
another  four  years'  of  my  remaining  in  this  city  there 
were  converted  and  baptized  through  me  and  my  co- 
workers, especially  in  villages,  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  souls  from  whom  I  organized  three  churches  and 
ordained  the  three  presbyters  at  taking  leave  of  them 
and  the  city.  I  was  challenged  to  public  disputation 
with  Orthodox  Mi5?sionary  M.  Galovkin  on  religious 
subjects  in  the  seminary  and  Orthodox  churches,  so  that 
on  these  disputations  with  me  were  present  priests,  semi- 
nary pupils  and  other  people,  oftentimes  three  hundred 
persons,  so  that  these  disputations  roused  a  spirit  of 
searching  in  religious  questions. 

At  the  end  of  my  second  exile  I  received  a  call  from 
the  Russo-German  church  in  Tultsho  (Tulcea)  in  Rou- 
mania  to  be  their  pastor  and  I  accepted  this  call  and 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  101 

went  to  Rooimania,  because  the  persecution  in  Russia 
was  yet  in  full  vigor.  I  .^qient  there  about  six  years,  visit- 
ing sometimes  also  Bulgaria.  My  work  there  was  blessed 
through  converting  of  sixty  souls.  T  had  opportunity 
to  show  hospitality  and  help  to  many  persecuted  breth- 
ren that  passed  over  the  frontier. 

When  the  persecution  in  Russia  a  little  abated  the 
church  at  Tiflis  invited  me  again  to  return  home  and 
I  followed  this  call  and  came  back  to  Russia  in  1901. 

About  six  years  I  worked  in  Tiiii^,  where  T  found  the 
church  divided,  but  after  much  labor  I  'had  the  joy  to 
see  them  united  in  one  body. 

In  1907  was  founded  a  mission  society  over  Which 
I  presided  three  years,  but  as  the  hoped  freedom  was  not 
realized  and  we  could  not  get  legal  permission  for  its 
existence,  we  were  compelled  to  disorganize.  This  so- 
ciety had  engaged  every  year  from  twenty  to  twenty- 
six  missionaries  who  preached  the  Gospel  and  spent  for 
this  purpose  more  than  four  thousand  dollars.  We 
availed  ouTselves  also  of  the  limited  liberty  and  arranged 
large  public  evangelization  meetings  in  theaters,  audi- 
toriums, tea-houses  and  other  public  houses  m  several 
large  cities.  Our  last  congress  in  St.  Petersburg  pro- 
moted our  cause  and  made  it  known  in  large  circles. 

At  present  time  I  am  w^orking  in  Odessa,  a  large, 
beautiful  city  in  south  Russia  with  half  a  million  of 
inhabitanfts  where  I  came  in  1907.  I  preach  in  a  large 
hired  prayer-hall  that  seats  seven  hundred  and  sixty 
persons.    Our  gatherings  are  always  crowded,  especially 


102  MODERN  BAPTIST 

Sunday  evenings.  During  my  activity  here  in  space  of 
three  years  were  a,dded  to  the  church  one  hundred  and 
eighty-five  souls  through  the  baptism.  The  last  yeaj' 
rose  many  stations  in  the  vicinity  of  Odessa  as  in  Tiras- 
pO'le,  Bendery  and  Kisheney.  Among  the  converted 
there  are  two  nurses  who  formerly  served  in  a  hospital 
but  were  discharged  for  their  witness  about  Christ.  They 
are  now  working  as  deacone,sses  on  their  own  will  and 
have  access  to  noblo  families.  We  have  here  three  I^us- 
sian,  one  German  and  one  Jewish-Christian  congrega- 
tion of  the  baptized  Christians. 

I  am  also  editor  of  the  weekly  Christian  Magazine, 
''The  Baptist/'  that  is  the  official  organ  of  our  denomi- 
nation. I  could  not  discharge  all  my  duties  if  T  had  not 
an  excellent  assistant  in  the  person  of  a  young  man, 
Brother  M.  Timoshanks.  I  labor  on  the  edition  of  this 
paper  without  capital  and  wages  and  it  is  very  difficult 
to  carry  on  this  work  that  gives  till  now  deficit. 

Concerning  the  religious  liberty,  I  have  to  say  that 
it  is  yet  very  limited,  though  we  are  in  better  condition 
than  before  the  revolution.  We  can  now  print  our  own 
literature  and  permitted  services  are  not  dissolved.  But 
the  Minister  of  Interiors  defends  very  carefully  the  es- 
tablisihed  Church  and  enacts  circulars  that  do  very  con- 
siderably limit  our  rights.  Recently  he  published  regu- 
lations that  forbid  the  services  in  the  open  air  and  all 
processions,  save  funerals,  that  includes  our  baptisms; 
further  the  Sunday  schools  and  young  men's  associations 
are  forbidden  without  special  permission;  the  last  caii 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  103 

be  permitted  on  one  condition  that  no  Orthodox  youth 
shall  take  part  in  the  gatherings  of  our  youth,  neither 
the  children  of  our  believing  parents  when  they  are 
registered  as  Orthodox  and  albove  fourteen  years  old. 

In  many  places  our  members  are  beaten  and  their 
gatherings  ai'e  dissolved  by  mob,  as  for  instance,  in 
Siberia  a  mob  entered  the  house  of  one  brother  whero 
was  a  prayer-meeting,  dissolved  it  by  giin-firing  and 
tried  to  kill  him.  Another  occasion  occurred  in  Bretal- 
pashinsk,  the  Province  of  Kuban,  where  the  mob  pre- 
vented the  burial  of  the  Baptist  preacher,  Yoursshenks, 
who  died  soon  after  the  aittack  on  him  by  a  mob,  while 
he  was  preaching  in  the  meeting.  The  brethren  were 
compelled  to  carrj^  off  his  corpse  ten  miles  away  in  order 
to  bury  it.  It  was  buried  on  the  estate  of  our  Brother 
V.  Mamontaff. 


MADAME  VASILIA  PAVLOFF. 

Madame  Pavloff's  picture  appears  in  the  frontispiece 
group,  the  second  from  the  left  in  the  center  row,  at 
the  right  of  her  hasiband.  The  first  thing  that  strikes 
one  upon  meeting  Madame  Pavloff,  as,  in  fact,  was  the 
case  with  all  of  the  messengers  fromi  the  continent  of 
Europe  to  the  Baptist  World  Alliance,  in  Philadelphia, 
was  her  poise.  She  was  calm  in  her  self-possession,  grasp- 
ed one's  hand  with  firmness  and  smiled  pleasantly.  The 
impression  came  at  once  that  she  was  fashioned  to  be  the 
wife  of  the  fearless,  aggressive  and  masterful  Pavloff. 
It  is  easy  to  see  how  she  was  always  ready  to  go  with 
him  at  an  hour's  notice  upon  any  suggested  missionary 
tour  where  journeys  on  foot,  stones,  and  even  prisons, 
were  along  the  way.  To  questions  asked  her  she  quietly 
and  concisely  said: 

''My  work  has  consisted  principally  in  helping  my 
husiband  in  his  teachings  and  sharing  his  hardships.  I 
joined  him  during  his  second  exile  in  Siberia  and  to- 
gether we  starved  and  fought  for  existence.  ; 

"What  perils  we  faced,  what  sufferings  we  underwent 
make  me  shudder  yet  when  I  think  of  them.  Often 
death  would  have  been  easier  for  us,  hut  we  struggled 
on,  strong  in  faith.     Thank  God  those  days  come  no 


A  CHILD  IN  A  LAND  FAR  AWAY. 

Once  on  a  time  there  lived  seven  h-^.ppy,  healthy, 
little  children  in  a  small  house  with  a  lovely  garden  be- 
hind. It  was  not  in  America — no,  dear!  Please  take  a 
map  and  you  will  easily  find  the  heart -shaped  land  oi 
Bohemia.  It  looks  on  the  map  just  like  a  heart  in  the 
midst  of  Europe,  and  because  of  sore  persecutions,  it 
has  proven  a  broken  heart.  When  you  look  in  the 
center  of  this  heart  on  the  map  you  will  find  the  city 
of  Prague.  So  there!  That's  the  place  where  these, 
happy  children  lived.  Their  parents  were  poor,  but  they 
were  rich  in  God.  The  father  has  been  a  Raptis^t  min- 
ister, but  do  not  think  of  a  large  church.  No.  dear! 
He  started  to  be  a  minister  in  Prague  but  had  not  a 
single  member.  Just  imagine!  But  still  he  faithfully 
started  and  faithfully  worked.  Worked  hard.  Hard, 
because  the  whole  land  is  Roman  Catholic  and  it  is  vcr^' 
hard  to  work  among  these  people.  The  mother  of  these 
children,  helped  the  father.  Now,  I  will  tell  you  a  secret : 
it  was  my  father.  So  my  mother  helped  my  father. 
How?  Well,  first  of  all,  she  said,  she  will  have  a  Sun- 
day school  with  her  own  seven  children.  Dear  me' 
.Wasn't  it  a  beautiful  Sunday  school !  When  it  was  fine 
weather,  we  went  to  the  garden  behind  our  hou9e,  got 


108  MODERN  BAPTIST 

some  chairs  in  the  little  tent  and  mother  was  our  teacher  1 
She  was  a  good,  dear,  noble  teacher,  too.  Oh,  those  b'ess<='d 
hours  at  her  feet !  I  am  now  quite  grown  up  and  I  have 
a  little  daughter  myself — ^but  I  will  never,  never  forget 
our  Sunday  school  at  home.  But  very  soon  we  were  n^t 
just  sev^n,  for  our  circle  grew  large.  We  told  our  fellow 
pupils  in  the  day  school  about  our  lovely  Sunday  school 
at  home.  Didn't  they  look  at  us  with  em'y?  I'm'^ure 
they  did.  So  we  said :  "Well,  if  you  like,  do  come  next 
Sunday." 

So  next  Sunday,  one  little  Catholic  sheep  after  aii 
other  crept  silently  into  our  fold,  fearing  a  little  whether 
my  mother  would  not  turn  them  out.  But  dear  me,  there 
was  no  reason  to  fear.  Mother  smiled  at  every  one  and 
said  she  was  so  glad  they  came.  They  came  Sunday  after 
Sunday.  But  you  know  what  happened?  The  pnest  in 
the  day  school  'heard  about  it,  that  his  Catholic  children 
"are  unfaithful  to  the  Church  and  visit  the  heretic  Sun- 
day school  at  Jungmann's  street  at  the  Baptist  minister's 
house."  So  there  was  a  great  commotion  the  next  day  in 
the  school  and  the  priest  forbade  every  one  to  go  to  our 
house.    We  were  so  sad. 

But  listen.  A  boy  came  again  and  again.  It  was  a 
pale,  thin-fac^d,  tiny,  little  boy  of  about  ten  years  of 
age.  We  liked  him  very  much,  though  his  dress  was  very 
poor  and  he  seemed  always  so  hungry.  Mother  liked 
him  and  petted  him.  She  told  him  about  Christ's  love  to 
every  child,  about  Jesus'  salvation  and  redemption:  He 
was  very  attentive  to  what  she  said,  and  mother  taught 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  109 

him  how  to  pray  and  to  ask  forgiveness  for  his  soul.  A  Iso 
he  loved  the  hymns  very  much  and  was  fond  especially 
of  the  one:  'Me?us  loves  me  this  I  know,  for  the  Bible 
tells  me  so." 

This  all  happened  about  fourteen  years  ago.  Years 
went  quickly  by,  the  seven  children  became  grown  up 
people.  The  oldest  one — Harry — became  a  minister  to 
help  his  father,  but  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight.  The 
younger  son,  Joseph,  went  into  the  footsteps  of  his  father 
and  brother  and  works  today  in  Pragxie  as  a  minister  in 
the  church  his  father  founded  many  years  ago. 

In  the  meantime  much  has  changed,  many  things 
came  up  out  of  our  memory ;  the  Sunday  school  at  Prague 
became  larger  and  larger,  the  faces  in  the  rows  of  chil- 
dren changed,  one  new  child  cairn e,  others  weni  and  we 
never  knew  what  became  of  the  little  thin-faced  boy. 

Now  some  time  ago  a  lady  in  Prague — her  name  was 
Jarolimak — told  me, ''There  is  an  old  poor  woman,  down 
in  a  dark  street  of  a  suburb  of  Prague,  she  is  very  ill — 
won't  you  come  with  me  to  see  her?''  Of  course  I  went. 
We  came  into  a  small,  dark  room,  where  poverty  evi- 
dently had  been  quite  at  home.  The  air  was  heavy  and 
damp,  the  room  dirty,  untidy  and  cold.  On  a  poor  bed 
I  saw  the  old,  half-blind  woman,  who  at  the  sight  of  u? 
cried,  ''May  God  reward  you,  I  am  so  forsaken,  forgotten 
here." 

Then  I  spoke  to  her  about  the  love  of  Jesus  and  we 
helped  her  as  much  as  we  could.  Tn  a  little  while  she  said, 
"Pleaise,  there  in  the  wardrobe  is  a  Bible  rolled  ud  in 


110  MODERN  BAPTIST 

a  cloth.  Would  you  read  for  me  a  little?'^  I  thought  it 
would  be  a  Catholic  prayer  hook,  or  some  other  book, 
but  I  did  not  expect  to  find  a  real  Bible  in  this  Catholic 
house.  But  indeed,  it  was  a  dear,  good,  old  Bible. 
''Where  did  you  get  it  from?"  I  asked.  ''Ah,  it's  a  lor^g 
story,"  she  said.    "Do  tell  me,"  I  prayed. 

"Many  years  ago,  I  had  a  grown-up  boy,  who  had 
been  bad  and  wicked.  He  was  the  sorrow  of  my  life. 
His  father  had  been  a  drunkard  and  I  feared  my  boy 
would  take  after  him.  He  went  to  public  houses,  spent 
all  his  money  there  dancing,  drinking  and  playing  cards. 
Sometimes  he  took  my  own  money  secretly  and  spent  it 
with  his  bad  comrades.  I  did  not  know  what  to  do ;  ho 
wouldn't  listen  to  me  when  I  asked  him  to  lead  a  better 
life.  So  I  prayed  to  God  that  he  might  try  either  to 
change  him  to  be  good  or  to  take  him  a^vay.  At  one 
time  unexpectedly  he  changed.  I  do  not  know  till  this 
day  what  it  could  have  been.  He  started  to  visit  some 
secret  meetings — it  was  in  the  Jungmann's  street.  There 
he  leai-ned  how  to  pray  and  at  home  he  sang  most  beauti- 
ful hymns.  Never  more  did  he  go  to  dance  and  even  if 
I  said  to  him  he  might  go  once  more,  he  wouldn't 
go.  My  neighbors  noticed  at  once  this  change  and  sev~ 
eral  of  them  told  me  that  I  ought  to  be  thankful  to 
God  for  such  a  boy.  I  couldn't  explain  this  change,  so 
I  thought  God  gave  him  another  brain.  There  in  the 
secret  meetings  some  one  gave  him  a  little  Bible  (it  was 
a  New  Testament).  He  loved  the  little  book  so  much, 
that  'he  carried  it  always  with  'him  and  whenever  he  had 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  Ill 

a  few  minute?  time,  he  read  and  read.  I  never  could 
read  and  beside  thi5  I  am  half  blind,  so  my  poor  boy 
read  for  me  aloud  and  sung  hymns  for  me.  He  always 
said,  'Come,  m'other  dear,  sit  down  next  to  me,  I  will 
read  for  you.'  Sometimes  I  had  too  much  to  do  but 
he  said,  'Let  your  work  go  for  a  minute,  never  mind 
your  work,  come  and  listen.'  Oh,  it  was  a  happy  time. 
One  day  someone  knocked  at  the  door  and  a  man  stood 
there,  asking  whether  we  would  buy  a  Bible.  It  was  a  col- 
porter  from  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society, 
which  has  a  depot  at  Prague.  My  boy  prayed  at  once, 
'Oh  mother,  do  buy  one,  do!  I  will  pay  you  for  it 
when  I  shall  get  well  and  can  work  again' — for  he  began 
to  be  ill  at  that  time.  So  I  bought  this  verv^  Bible  from 
him.  My  boy  got  ill  with  consumption  and  was  unable 
to  go  to  the  meetings.  But  he  read  at  home,  sang  and 
was  liappy.  But  he  didn't  pray  as  I  do !  No,  dear!  He 
never  prayed  to  all  the  saints,  to  the  A^irgin  Mar}',  to 
the  angels — no  I  He  always  spoke  with  Jesus  like  a 
friend  speaks  with  a  friend.  He  also  told  me,  that  in 
the  church  where  he  used  to  go,  they  baptize  only  grown- 
ups, which  are  believers." 

This  was  all  told  me  by  this  mother,  and  she  did 
not  know  that  I  knew  well  all  about  those  meetings  at 
the  Jungmann's  street.  But  she  was  not  at  the  end. 
She  said: 

"After  the  death  of  my  poor  boy,  Joseph,  his  younger 
brother,  Vaclav,  took  possession  of  the  Bible  and  read  in 
it.    Then  some  children  in  the  school  told  him  to  go  to 


112  MODERN  BAPTIST 

?ome  Smiday  school  and  he  went.  It  was  the  same  place 
where  Joseph  used  to  go.  Some  lady  had  Lecn  there  tell- 
ing the  children  about  Jesus  and  taught  them  to  pray, 
to  sing,  and  my  little  Vaclav  liked  this  Sunday  school 
ever  so  much.  At  home  he  used  to  pray  just  like  Joseph, 
-vvho  died,  and  most  of  all  hymns  he  liked  the  same  one, 
'Jesus  Loves  Me.'  But  a  sad  thing  happened.  The 
priest  at  the  school  learned  that  the  hoy  was  attending 
a  heretic  place  of  worship  and  he  chastised  him  for 
having  an^^hing  to  do  with  it  and  forbade  him  to  go 
anymore  to  the  Sunday  school.  However,  the  lad  did  re- 
turn; his  life  became  beautiful  and  week  by  week  he 
developed  as  a  Christian.  His  conduct  had  been  gen- 
erally bad,  but  after  he  went  sometime  to  the  Sunday 
school,  his  conduct  changed.  But  news  was  carried  to 
the  priest  that  his  orders  had  been  disregarded.  The 
priest  sought  the  lad  -and  re^buked  him  for  taking  up  with 
what  he  called  'these  new  ideas.'  The  little  fellow  looked 
into  the  face  of  the  priest  and  innocently  remarked,  'Ex- 
cuse me,  sir,  these  are  not  new  ideas.  I  am  told  they 
are  very  old  ideas.^  At  this  remark  the  priest  lost 
control  of  his  temper  and  hurled  the  boy  against 
a  stoye,  breaking  some  of  the  bones  in  the  little 
fellow's  chest.  The  boy  also  received  internal  injuries 
from  which  he  suffered  great  pain.  Then  followed  t\N^o 
long  years  of  sickness  and  pain.  Slowly  the  boy  faded 
away.     He  died  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years." 

It  is  now  twelve  years  ago  since  this  little  hero  died. 
When  his  last  day  came,  he  said,  ''Mother,  today  at  four 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  113 

o^clock  I  will  go.  I  had  a  beautiful  dream,  oh,  it  will  be 
every  thing  so  nice  and  sweet,  but  before  I  go,  I  must 
thank  you  and  all  our  neighbors  for  all  you  and  they 
have  done  for  me  in  my  illness."  The  neighbors  came 
and  were  moved  to  tears,  when  the  boy  spoke  of  his  death 
at  four  o'clock  and  thanked  them  all.  Then  they  waited 
very  anxiously  until  it  all  ended.  Before  the  clock  had 
struck  four,  little  Vaclav  Smejkal  died. 

I  was  told  that  once  in  a  religious  lesson  in  the  day 
school,  when  the  priest  explained  to  the  class  something 
of  the  New  Testament,  this  little  fellow  said,  ''I  beg  your 
pardon,  sir,  so  it  is  not  written  in  my  New  Testament  it 
is  so  and  so."  This  brought  the  priest,  of  course,  into  a 
rage. 

The  old  mother  was  very  glad  when  I  told  her  that 
I  went  to  Sunday  school  with  her  little  boy,  that  it  was 
my  mother  who  taught  us  and  that  my  father  is  the  min- 
ister of  whom  both  her  boys  spoke  at  honie.  She  was 
so  glad  and  we  became  close  friends  together.  Then 
several  of  our  members  came  to  visit  her  and  help  her. 
She  was  very  anxious  to  hear  and  to  learn  to  read  the 
Gospel.  Once  Mrs.  Jarolimak,  member  of  our  church, 
came  to  read  for  her  and  found  her  having  her  Bible 
open  on  her  lap.  Mrs.  Jarolimak  smiled  and  mother 
Smejkal  said:  ''You  know,  I  cannot  read,  but  it  was  too 
long  for  me  to  wait  for  you,  so  I  just  turned  one  leaf 
after  another  and  thought  in  the  meantime  about  Jesus. 
Then  I  prayed." 

Once    again    her    little  gi-anddaughter    about    four 


114  MODERN  BAPTIST 

yeara  of  age  came  to  see  her.  The  grandmother  said: 
''Let's  have  a  prayer-meeting,  dear."  So  the  Httle  girl 
took  the  New  Testament,  the  gran'dmother  the  big  Bible 
and  they  both  turned  one  leaf  after  another  speaking 
about  Jesus'  love.  Then  both  of  these  "little  ones"  tried 
to  pray. 

When  mother  Smejkal  recovered  a  little  from  her 
Illness  she  came  several  times  to  our  meetings  and  opened 
her  heart  to  Jesus.  But  again  she  got  ill  and  it  is  now  two 
years  ago  since  ^e  died  and  pased  on  to  be  by  her  two 
boys  who  had  found  Jesus  in  our  Sunday  school. 
Madame  Lydia  Kox^atorova  (nee  Novotny), 

Brunn,  Moravia. 


KAPUSTINSKY,  EXILED  MARTYR. 

Deeper  grew  the  blackness  of  the  forest,  pro- 
founder  fell  the  silence,  enveloping  all  things.  Even 
the  late  night  birds  had  ceased  any  twitter;  the  River 
Desna  that  ran  along  the  edge  of  the  woods  seemed 
sighing  in  sleep.  Often  had  this  midnight  silence  been 
slightly  broken  by  the  cautious  tread  of  human  feet, 
by  two  hushed  words  spoken  to  a  young  man  who  stood 
guard  in  the  narrow  path  that  ran  into  the  forest..  But 
even  this  had  grown  less  frequent. 

"Do  you  suppose  father  could  have  passed  us,  Anton, 
and  we  not  known  it?"  asked  a  low  voice  of  the  young 
guard. 

''Hardly,  Ivan — then  mother  knows  that  I  am  on 
guard  tonight." 

"List —  sh — .  I  hear  others,"  whispered  a  third  voice, 
that  of  a  yet  younger  brother  who  sat  on  the  ground, 
his  ear  against  it.  He  sprang  to  his  feet  and  stood 
beside  the  two  taller  youths. 

"That  must  be  they,''  he  said  intently.  All  was 
quiet  again,  except  the  tread  of  cautious  approaching 
footsteps.  Two  figures  could  be  vaguely  discerned 
in  the  darkness,  one  tall,  the  other  small.  The  youths 
listened  for  the  pass  words. 


116  MODERN  BAPTIST 

"Our  King,"  sounded  presently  from  the  taller  out- 
line. 

"That's  them/'  cried  the  youngest  of  the  three  youths 
and  sprang  eagerly  from  behind  the  tree. 

"Each  of  you  here?"  asked  the  smaller  outline. 

"I'm  here,  too,  brothers,"  came  an  unexpected  sound. 

"Not  so  loudly,  babe,"  quickly  cautioned  the 
mother. 

"Why  it's  the  little  Katrine!"  welcomed  the  three 
brothers  as  with  one  voice.  Her  small  figure  of  eight 
year's  growth  had  been  hidden  by  the  other  two.  The 
faint  sound  of  a  far  distant  bell  began  to  fall  on  the 
darkness;  it  was  a  village  clock  striking  twelve. 

"You  are  late,  father,"  said  Anton. 

"Yes — we  tarried  tonight  to  pray  for  our  boys,"  he 
answered.  Instinctively  the  mother  put  out  her  hands 
and  somehow  in  the  dark  found  Ivan  and  'Gregory 
and  drew  them  to  her  side. 

"Come,"  said  the  father.    "Be  alert,  Anton." 

"Would  that  I  could  witness  the  baptism  of  my 
brothers."  Anton  took  the  hands  of  his  younger  brothers 
and  pressed  them  warmly.  "My  brother  soldiers  under 
Our  King."  The  darkness  hid  the  proud  flash  of  the 
eye  and  the  princely  toss  of  the  head,  but  the  smothered 
words  carried  the  fire. 

The  little  group  of  five  moved  off  leaving  the  young 
guard  alone.  They  had  not  gone  a  great  distance  before 
they  came  to  a  wooden  cottage.  It  was  the  home  of 
Brother  Makroff,  a  farmer  of  the  Province  of  Kursk, 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  117 

in  the  southern  portion  of  great  Russia.  Many  times 
had  quietly  gathered  tliere  those  who  desired  to  worship 
God  according  to  their  own  hearts  and  consciences. 
Greater  had  been  tlie  danger  for  such  groups  anywhere 
since  tlie  fateful  13th  of  March  in  1881,  when  occurred 
the  horrible  death  of  Alexander  II.  The  death  of  this 
czar  at  the  hands  of  the  Nihilists  wounded  Russian 
liberty  with  a  deep  and  deadly  wound.  Since  then  more 
cruel  had  growji  the  persecutions.  Wherever  gathered 
those  whose  hearts  worshiped  contrary  to  the  Church  of 
the  State,  there  was  peril.  Only  at  night  did  such  dare 
to  gather  for  worship,  and  on  special  occasions  at  mid- 
night. This  was  one  of  the  nights  of  special  occasion. 
Just  as  the  group  reached  the  cottage  the  door  opened 
and  a  figure  was  outlined  in  the  light  from  within. 

'^Ah,  Brother  Kapustinsky !"  ejaculated  a  voice  as 
the  light  fell  suddenly  upon  the  group.  "We  were 
growing  uneasy." 

Together  they  entered  the  cottage.  The  benches 
surrounding  the  room,  the  middle  of  the  floor,  and  the 
top  of  the  stove,  were  crowded  with  neighbors  from  near 
and  far.  A  few  Scripture  texts  adorned  the  walls;  all 
ikons  or  holy  pictures  had  been  removed.  In  one 
corner  of  the  room  was  a  table  and  upon  it  lay  an  open 
Bible  and  several  hymn  books.  Behind  this  table  the 
tall  figure  among  the  little  group,  Kapustinsky  quietly 
took  his  stand.  His  powerful,  soldier-like  body  com- 
manded immediate  attention. 

*Tardon    me  for  being  late — your  time  has  been 


118  MODERN  BAPTIST 

profitably  spent  in  Bible  study  with  Brother  Makrojff  to 
lead  you — but  most  of  you  know  how  great  is  this  night 
for  me."  He  stopped  abruptly.  The  voice  was  that  ol 
one  who  was  accustomed  to  commund.  The  minds  of 
many  sprang  back  to  the  renown  he  had  gained  for  his 
good  service  in  the  war  of  1877  between  Turkey  and 
Russia.  His  duty  had  been  to  superintend  the  cartage  of 
provisions  to  the  scenes  of  the  conflict  in  the  south. 
But  not  only  to  his  fellow  soldiers  of  Russia  h^d  he 
brought  the  food  necessary  to  their  warfare.  While  for 
these  his  wagons  had  gone  down  laden,  neither  had  they 
returned  to  Russia  empty!  Many  a  consignment  of 
Bibles  and  Testaments  had  been  brought  into  the  do- 
main of  the  Holy  Synod  by  his  skill  and  daring.  There 
were  those  in  this  room  who  owed  to  this  man  their  true 
Bread  of  Life,  brought  to  them  in  one  of  those  Bibles. 
It  was  all  of  these  things  that  the  momentary  tense 
silence  spake  on  this  auspicious  night. 

^'Tonight,"  went  on  the  voice,  deep  with  emotion, 
"My  two  boys  join  with  us,  brothers,  fellow-soldiers, 
under  our  common  King,  even  Christ."  The  father- 
heart  of  the  soldier-man  was  uppermost.  Instinctively 
he  put  out  his  hand  towards  the  boys.  With  a  common 
impulse  they  stepped  close  to  his  side  and  stood  there; 
Ivan,  the  older,  with  head  erect;  Gregory,  the  younger, 
scarcely  passed  eleven  years,  with  arms  folded  and  eyes 
bent  upon  his  father. 

^^Gregory  is  the  youngest  in  our  midst,"  Kapustin- 
sky  smiled  for  a  moment  upon  the  boy.     "He  is  proud 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  119 

of  the  name  he  bears,  called  after  Gregory  Skovoroda, 
that  great  soul  who  traveled  this  country  far  and  wide, 
scattering  the  good  seed  of  the  Kingdom,  talking  in 
homely  fashion  to  the  people  about  their  souls  and  the 
Savior.  But  prouder  is  the  boy  this  night  that  he  may 
go  down  with  others  to  the  River  Desna  and  there  be 
buried  with  this  Savior  in  baptism  and  rise  again  to  serve 
the  One  who  has  saved  him." 

"Even  so — Amen!"  came  assent  of  many  voices  as 
with  one  -accord. 

"We  lingered  long  in  prayer.  It  is  late — shall  we  go 
now  to  the  river?" 

Quietly  those  gathered  in  the  cottage  filed  out. 
Another  path  they  took  and  marched  silently  down  to 
the  banks  of  the  River  Desna;  continually  was  heard 
the  whisper  of  murmured  prayers. 

"Oh,  I  wish  that  I,  too,  might  be  baptized,"  said  the 
little  Katrine  to  her  mother,  as  the  long  line  formed 
along  the  river  bank. 

"Why,  little  one?" 

"Oh,  like  my  brothers  now,  and  Big  Brother  Anton 
was  last  winter.    May  not  I?" 

"Not  yet,"  answered  the  mother,  and  added,  "Not 
because  of  the  brothers." 

It  was  the  service  of  what  is  known  as  the  Believers' 
baptism.  They  dared  let  no  songs  give  signal.  Only 
murmured  prayers,  the  low  voice  of  Kapustinsky  as  he 
spake  the  solemn  words  over  each  one  who  stood  with 
him  in  the  water,  the  gentle  disturbance  of  the  water 


120  MODERN  BAPTIST 

as  each  soul  was  buried  in  baptism  with  the  found 
Savior  and  raised  again  to  walk  the  new  life — 
only  these  things  broke  the  midnight  stillness.  Before 
the  passing  of  an  hour  the  serv^iee  was  over,  the  converts 
were  cared  for,  the  entire  assembly  was  back  in  the  cot- 
tage for  some  final  words  of  love  and  prayer.  Wonderful 
was  the  radiance  that  played  over  the  faces  as  they  spake 
one  with  another. 

"List!"  The  word  shot  dagger-like  through  the 
room.  Breathless  was  the  sudden  silence.  The  signal! 
To  others  it  might  have  meant  the  call  of  a  night  owl — 
to  these  it  meant  God  could  only  tell  what. 

"Let  the  mothers  who  have  babes  at  home  be  gotten 
away  at  once,"  quickly  spake  Kapustinsky.  Involuntar- 
ily he  glanced  at  his  own  Katrine;  they  had  left  two  in 
their  home.  Several  women  slipped  through  the  crowd 
and  out  the  back  door ;  among  them  was  the  mother  with 
the  little  Katrine.  Hardly  had  they  passed  out  at  the 
rear  door  when  at  the  front  door  appeared  the  police. 
The  entrance  of  the  visitors  created  a  wild  panic.  The 
monjiks  and  the  womenfolk  arose  to  their  feet 
and  remained  standing  in  silence. 

"Ha,  ha!"  exclaimed  an  officer.  "You  are  at  it  again. 
We  have  caught  you  at  another  of  your  meetings." 

"What  are  you  here  for?"  a  St.  Petersburg  official 
inquired,  looking  around.  There  was  silence  for  a  few 
seconds,  then  a  quiet,  respectful  voice  spake. 

"We  are  here  to  pray  to  God,  batushka." 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  121 

'^Why  do  you  not  go  to  church  and  offer  your  pray- 
ers there?" 

''The  church  is  full  of  ikons  which  we  must  not 
worship,  and  God  will  hear  us  if  we  pray  to  him  here." 

''Where  is  your  picture?"  interrupted  a  policeman. 
For  every  Russian  must  have  in  one  corner  of  his  room 
a  holy  picture,  or  ikon,  before  which,  as  often  as  can  be 
afforded,  he  must  burn  the  intercessory  candle.  To  fail 
to  do  so  means  arrest  and  imprisonment.     • 

''I  have  no  such  thing,"  replied  Makroff  bravely. 

''You  defy  the  law  of   the  Holy  Synod—" 

"Stay,  friend,"  interrupted  Kapustinsky,  Pepping 
between  Makroff  and  the  officer.  "We  defy  no  one — 
we  have  the  highest  veneration  for  the  czar  and  his 
high  advisers.  But  our  Bible  teaches  us  to  acknowledge 
no  king  over  our  conscience  but  the  Christ.  He  who 
truly  repents  need  not  burn  candles  before  pictures,  for 
Jesus  is  the  Savior,  and  not  St.  Nicholas,  a  St.  Jonah, 
or  even  the  Virgin  Ma " 

"Put  the  irons  on  them,  men,"  shouted  the  head 
officer.  ''Flog  those  you  wish."  Dire  became  the  confu- 
sion. Makroff  and  Kapustinsky  suddenly  felt  them- 
selves handcuffed  and  fastened  together  by  a  short  chain. 
Pleas  for  mercy,  cries  of  pain,  as  the  lashes  of  the  police 
began  to  fall  right  and  left,  rose  in  one  unintelligible 
tumult. 

"To  Kieff  with  your  prisoners!"  finally  called  the 
head  officer.  "Now,  no  more  of  your  secret  prayer-meet- 
ings," he  drawled  to  the  exhausted  human  beings  he 


122  MODERN  BAPTIST 

left  behind,  some  sunk  upon  chairs,  some  falling  to  the 
floor.  With  the  clank  of  chains  and  threats  from  the 
police  the  prisoners  were  headed  toward  the  historic  citj 
of  Kieff. 

Into  the  prison  at  Kieff,  the  cradle  of  Russian  Christ- 
ianity, the  prisoners  were  thrown — a  prison  as  foul,  ver- 
min infested,  sickening,  as  all  others.  Only  a  few  days 
did  Makroff  remain.  Plis  house  and  his  ways  were 
known  to*  the  authorities.  He  had  been  in  the  habit  of 
allowing  Gospel  meetings  there.  Souls  had 
been  saved  and  many  persons  had  been  baptized  in  the 
river  that  ran  through  the  farm.  The  arrest  had  becD 
postponed  only  awaiting  the  opportunity  to  catch  him 
in  the  act.  For  such  a  notorious  heretic  as  he  there  was 
no  need  for  a  trial,  so,  without  trial,  he  was  banished  by 
administrative  decree  far  five  yesiYs  to  Transcaucasia 
and  there  placed  under  police  surveillance.  For  when  it 
was  found  by  the  Most  Holy  Governing  Synod  that  the 
public  trial  of  "Sectarius"  drew  increased  public  attention 
to  their  doctrines,  and  excited  hostility  against  the  Greek 
Orthodox  Church  as  the  originator  of  the  persecutions, 
the  method  was  invented  of  "exile  by  administrative  or- 
der." Authority  was  freely  given  to  representatives  of  the 
government  in  the  various  localities  to  pass  sentence  of 
exile  without  even  a  pretense  of  a  trial  upon  all  persons 
suspected  of  attempting  to  propagate  heresy,  or  otherwise 
offending  against  the  Russian  Church.  Under  this  sys- 
tem of  "exile  by  administrative  order"  many  thousands 
of  believers  suffered  cruelly,  without  a  hearing,  and  witH- 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  123 

out  the  slightest  possibility  of  redress.  No  man  could  be 
sure  it  would  not  be  his  turn  next  to  be  seized  and  trans- 
ported to  Siberia,  White  Sea,  or  Trancaucasia. 

It  is  no  wonder  then  that  great  wiis  the  anxiety  of  the 
heart  of  Katrine,  the  mother,  and  difficult  was  it  for  her 
to  quiet  the  questions  of  the  little  Katrine  and  the  boys 
when  they  learned  the  fate  of  their  good  friend,  Makroff. 

^'Where  is  Transcaucasia,  mother?"  asked  Gregor^\ 

''Many  hundred  miles,  on  the  border  of  the  country 
of  Persia." 

"But  they  will  not  send  our  father  there,  will  they, 
mother?"  half  whispered  the  little  Katrine.  The  moth- 
er smiled  sadly  at  the  child,  but  gave  no  answer.  "Will 
they,  mother?" 

The  tramp  of  feet  at  the  doorway  saved  her  from  an- 
swering. Anton  and  Ivan  were  returning  from  their 
weekly  visit  to  the  prison  at  Kieff.  She  had  gone  once, 
taking  all  the  children. 

"The  news  today,  boys?"  She  was  on  her  feet  in  an 
instant. 

"Nothing  new,"  answered  Anton.  "His  fellow-prison- 
ers have  grown  kind — they  have  ceased  stealing  from 
him.  He  persisted  in  returning  the  evil  they  did  him 
wdth  ser\'ices  of  love  and  one  by  one  they  have  begged 
our  father's  pardon." 

"And,  mother,"  interrupted  Ivan,  as  if  fearing  he 
might  forget,  "Do  you  remember  the  Prussian  we  saw 
chained  hand  and  foot  in  the  cell?  He  heard  father  tell- 
ing of  the  love  of  Jesus  and  the  poor  man  wishes  to 


124  MODERN  BAPTIST 

know  more.  Father  says  we  must  bring  him  a  German 
Testament  the  next  time  we  come." 

But  it  was  not  until  the  group  had  grown  quiet  again 
and  they  had  gathered  around  the  table  for  the  prayer- 
time  that  Anton  gave  his  special  message  to  the  mother. 

"Father  told  me  to  say  to  you,"  spake  the  youth, 
stooping  over  her  as  she  sat  in  her  chair  wdth  the  open 
Bible  in  her  lap,  'That  often  is  he  reminded  of  the 
ravens  w^ho  brought  food  to  Elijah;  and  of  Daniel  who 
in  the  lions'  den  was  strengthened  by  God.  God  is 
still  the  same  now  as  ever,  and  in  His  great  mercy  careth 
for  His  people."  There  was  a  moment  of  silence,  then 
with  lowered  voice.  "It  would  be  better  to  worship  God 
in  a  far  away  country,  than  to  be  an  exile  from  God's 
Kingdom  here  in  our  native  land." 

"Anton,  what  is  it?   What  have  you  heard?" 

''No  definite  fact,  mother — ^but  something  of  the 
great  work  father  did  during  the  war  with  Turkey 
in  using  the  return  provision  wagons  for  bringing  Bibles 
to  the  starved  souls  of  our  country  has  been  learned — " 

"Anton,"  interrupted  the  mother,  "w^e  must  see 
about  selling  our  home  and  settling  our  affairs."  Her 
eyes  were  tense  w^ith  mental  activity. 

"Perchance  we  can  go  as  he  goes,  and  not  wait  to 
follow." 

Several  weeks  passed  ere  Katrine  was  able  to  carry  all 
of  the  children  on  another  trip  to  Kieff.  This  time  they 
journey  by  way  of  the  River  Desna,  thence  into  the 
River  Dnieper,  landing  at  Kieff.   Had  one  noticed  care- 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  125 

fully,  one  would  have  said  that  the  family  group  was 
coming  for  a  long  stay.  Up  the  steep  hill  they  climbed 
and  sought  the  street  that  led  to  the  prison.  As  they 
turned  into  the  street  there  was  evidence  that  something 
was  on  hand ;  the  crowd  was  great ;  further  along  was  the 
sound  of  jeers  and  taunts. 

"What  is  it?"  asked  Gregory  of  a  boy. 
"The  criminal   gang  going   to   exile,"   he  shouted 
reply. 

^To  exile — "  the  words  blanched  the  faces  of  the  moth- 
er and  children.  The  procession  was  at  hand.  The 
heavy  clanking  of  chains  could  be  heard.  The  police 
marched  in  the  front,  at  the  sides,  and  in  the  rear ;  in  the 
center  moved  the  ones  who  bore  the  chains  forged 
around  their  ankles.  The  hair  of  half  the  head  of  every- 
one was  shaved ;  the  garb  of  every  one  was  the  dtess  of  the 
convict.  Katrine,  half  forgetful  of  the  babe  in  her  arms, 
peered  madly  into  each  face,  instinctively,  not  that  she 
would  allow  herself  to  really  think  that  she  might  recog- 
nize a  face.    Suddenly  she  found  that  face ! 

'^Anton— Anton— it's  your  father— there— he  is 
there !"  The  shriek  rose  above  everything;  involuntarily 
the  procession  came  to  a  half  stop.  There  were  a  few  oaths 
from  the  police  and  again  the  procession  moved.  For  a 
moment  Katrine  seemed  to  swoon  but  when  the  proces- 
sion began  moving,  she  started  up  like  a  half  wild 
creature  and  fell  in  behind  it;  the  children  pressed  close 
to  her,  the  little  ones  sobbing.  The  distance  to  the  rail- 
way station  was  not  great.     Having  reached  there  the 


126  MODERN  BAPTIST 

woman  broke  loose  from  the  children  and  pushed  her 
way  to  her  husband.  Kapustinsky  had  heard  the  shriek, 
had  recognized  it,  had  lacerated  himself  with  his  chains 
as  instinctively  he  struggled  to  be  free,  had  quickly  taken 
in  the  situation  that  she  was  following.  He  was  deadly 
quiet  as  she  came  up  to  him,  fearing  lest  any  move- 
ment on  his  part  might  send  her  away. 

''Which  place?"  breathlessly,  as  she  reached  him. 

"To  Gernssi."    His  chains  rattled. 

"We  are  going,  too — no,  I  didn't  know — ^I  ^'usit 
thought  we  would  com.e  here  and  wait,  we  sold  the  farm. 
We  are  ready  to  go — we  have  our  money — but  I  didn't 
think  it  would  be  so  soon,"  ran  her  words  incoherently. 
The  boys,  Katrine  and  the  other  little  sister,  were  seek- 
ing their  way  through  the  crowd  to  the  parents.  Sud- 
denly there  was  a  cry  of  fright  from  the  little  Katrine ; 
one  of  the  head  policemen  had  seized  her  by  the  arm 
and  was  turning  her  back ;  with  his  other  hand  he  struck 
the  boys  with  his  club. 

"The  Governor-general  has  sent  word  that  all  child- 
ren must  be  left  behind !"  he  shouted  ruthlessly.  Wild- 
eyed  and  stunned  Katrine  stood  as  one  bound  to  her 
place,  her  free  hand  still  held  that  of  her  husband.  She 
was  aroused  by  a  policeman  dragging  her  babe  from  her 
right  arm. 

"Here's  another,"  he  was  calling  to  a  fellow  police- 
man. "Take  them  to  the  pope.  He  will  see  that  they 
go  where  they'll  obey  law^s.  He  will  immerse  them  into 
the  Greek  Orthodox  Church,  first,"  he  added  with  a 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  127 

contemptuous  smile,  as  he  was  putting  the  crying  infant 
into  the  hands  of  the  policeman  who  was  obeying  orders. 
So  many  personal  tragedies  were  being  enacted  in  so 
many  different  spots  that  the  scene  attracted  little  atten- 
tion. 

'^Give  me  my  child  I"  The  mother  sprang  suddenly 
upon  the  man  and  snatched  the  babe  from  his  arms. 
It  flashed  through  her  tortured  brain  that  still  other 
policemen  were  laying  hands  on  the  other  children. 

^^Kapustinsky !"  It  was  a  cry  of  despair.  He  saw 
what  she  had  seen. 

''Stay  with  them,  Katrine."  The  chains  of  the  pris- 
oners were  beginning  to  rattle ;  the  whistle  of  the  steam 
engine  sounded;  the  harsh  orders  to  march  were  heard 
above  everything. 

''Katrine — Katrine,"  seizing  her  left  hand  and 
clutching  it  with  the  clutch  of  death.  "Katrine — ^we  will 
pray — do  you  hear?  Pray — every — day — that  God  will 
bring  you  and  the  little  ones  to  me — "  there  was  a  lash 
across  his  shoulders ;  he  was  detaining  the  whole  body  of 
prisoners.  Katrine  fell  back.  It  was  the  arms  of  Anton 
that  caught  her. 

"Mother — they  are  taking  the  children !" 

Like  magic  were  the  words.  She  sprang  up  and  out 
from  the  crowd.  The  little  sister  and  Gregory  she  fi- 
nally secured ;  Ivan  had  snatched  himself  away.  But  the 
little  Katrine  could  not  be  found.  Back  to  the  mother's 
mmd  came  the  memory  of  having  heard  of  how  one 


1 28  MODERN  BAPTIST 

mother  had  been  robbed  of  four  children;  another,  of 
seven ;  a  third,  of  three  little  daughters. 

"We  will  stay  right  here  in  Kieff  and  keep  fore^^er 
looking/'  said  Anton. 

''And  forever  praying — do  you  remember,  aid  you 
hear  them,  Anton — the  last  vfords  of  your  father?'^ 

''Yes,  mother,  and  while  we  pray  we  boys  will 
work  hard  and  we  will  save  every  kopek." 

Thus  in  the  city  of  Kieff  stayed  Katrine  and  her 
children,  looking  day  by  day  for  the  stolen  little  Katrine, 
working,  planning,  praying — all  for  one  purpose — while 
through  the  many  days  traveled  Kapustinsky  across  the 
many  hundred  miles  of  southern  Russia  to  the  city  of 
Valdikwakas.  This  small  city  of  between  twenty  and 
fifty  thousand  inhabitants  lies  on  the  northern  slope  of 
the  Caucasian  range  of  mountains.  From  here  begins 
the  long  tramp  of  the  exiles  into  fastnesses  of  desolate 
Caucasia. 

It  was  in  the  year  1890  that  Kapu^insky  began 
his  march  over  the  rough  mountainous  roads,  his  chains 
clanking  at  every  step  he  took.  With  a  crimiiial  gang 
he  walked,  and  under  military  escort.  Two  hundred 
miles  it  is  to  Tiflis.  From  thence  he  traveled  by  a  little- 
used  track  over  the  mountains  to  Schuscha,  about  a  hun- 
dred and  seventy  miles;  from  there  another  hundred 
miles  brought  him  to  Gernssi.  Exciting,  indeed.  Was  the 
journey,  abounding  in  perilous  passes  and  gloomy  ravines 
and  gorges;  not  infrequently  was  seen  lurking  some  out- 
law. Sometimes  he  came  upon  a  mud  hut,  or  a  cave  in 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  129 

which  dwelt  men  and  women  exiled  as  he  was,  for  Clirist's 
sake.  Here  they  'Svandered  in  the  mountains,  and  in 
dens  and  caves  of  the  earth/'  those  ^'of  whom  the  world 
was  not  worthy,''  Heb.  11 :38.  Scattered  over  the  district 
of  Gernssi  on  the  Persian  frontier,  are  thirty  or  more 
exiled  families,  nearly  all  of  them  Baptists,  a  few  being 
Stundists.  The  few  inhabitants  of  the  region  are  Tar- 
tars ;  with  these  there  is  no  possibility  of  speech  as  none 
of  the  exiles  can  speak  their  language. 

The  little  track  of  the  mountains  ends  at  the  Gernssi 
settlement.  Here  Kapustinsky  was  told  he  might  cease 
his  journey  and  lay  aside  his  chains.  As  he  took  them 
off  he  saw  how  the  links  shone  like  polished  silver.  His 
first  feeling  was  that  of  vague,  dumb  wonder  as  to  where 
he  should  find  food,  where  shelter.  He  knew  that  no 
dwellings  were  provided  by  the  government.  A  cave, 
a  hole  dug  in  the  ground,  was  his  only  hope.  For  a 
long  time  he  was  too  exhausted  to  look  for  either.  The 
next  day  found  him  little  better. 

'^Lord,  give  me  strength  lest  I  die  here  without  my 
loved  ones,"  he  gasped,  and  forced  himself  to  move  fur- 
ther on.  Not  far  had  he  gone  when  he  came  upon  a 
mud  hut.  He  called  faintly  and  a  figure  came  to  the 
entrance.   Kapustinsky  fell  back  on  the  ground,  aghast. 

''By  the  grace  of  God,  do  I  live,  or  do  I  dream !"  he 
gasped.    The  man  in  the  door  was  straining  his  eyes. 

"Is  it — no — can  it  be — it  is  Brother  Kapustinsky!" 
he  was  questioning. 

''Brother  Makroff!"  Life  came  to  the  stricken  fonr; 


130  MODERN  BAPTIST 

and  he  sprang  to  his  feet  and  into  the  arms  of  his  now 
weeping  friend. 

For  many  days  dwelt  Kapustinsky  in  that  mud  hut, 
nursed  and  fed  by  his  neighbor  of  old.  When  his 
strength  was  restored  he  went  out  and  sought  for  a 
place  to  dig  his  own  mud  hut;  and  there,  often  times, 
Makroff  helped  him  again.  With  joy  he  told  his  brother 
one  night  that  it  was  finished. 

''Join  us  in  prayer,  Brother  Makroff.  My  Katrine 
and  I  pray  that  some  day,  somehow,  she  and  the  little 
ones  may  come  to  me  here.  I  have  made  my  altar  in 
the  home — even  this  day.  It  were  sweeter  far  to  die  here 
together,  if  necessary,  in  the  joy  of  the  Lord."  As  the 
days,  the  weeks,  the  months  went  by  others  of  the  exiles 
scattered  throughout  that  desolate  district  came  to  know 
Kapustinsky  and  for  what  he  prayed  and  watched  and 
worked.  They  had  been  forbidden  to  gather  together 
for  prayer,  but,  thank  God,  there  is  no  power  that  can 
prevent  the  human  heart  from  the  prayer  within  its 
own  closet.  And  so  many  and  tender  were  the  prayers 
of  these  brothers  in  exile,  separated  though  they  were  in 
outer  form. 

It  was  in  the  early  spring  of  the  following  year  when 
Kapustinsky  received  word  that  his  loved  ones  were  on 
their  way;  they  had  chosen  to  take  the  sea  voyage, 
crossing  the  Black  Sea,  and  thence  landward  to  Tiflis. 
Thrice  active  became  Kapustinsky's  energies.  Much 
effort  was  needed  for  himself  alone  to  wTest  a  liv- 
ing from  the  stony  soil  with  practically  no  proper  imple- 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  131 

ments  and  in  so  severe  a  climate.  He  succeeded  in  se- 
curing some  water-melon  seed  and  smiled  as  he  planted 
them,  thinking  of  how  the  children  would  love  the  fruit. 
When  the  seeds  had  sprouted  and  the  \'ines  began  to 
grow,  then  finally  the  fruit  began  to  appear,  he  tended 
them  with  almost  a  parent's  affection. 

One  morning  as  Kapustinsky  stooped  over  his  melon 
vines  he  became  conscious  of  an  approaching  cart,  then 
sounded  suddenly  shrieks  of  joy.  He  stood  up  quickly 
and  looked  around.  They  were  the  voices  of  his  Katrine 
and  his  children !  The  first  to  reach  him  was  the  little 
Katrine,  throwing  her  arms  around  his  neck  and  break- 
ing into  sobs  and  laughter.  As  to  whether  they  laughed 
or  cried  the  most  no  one  could  tell.  It  was  a  long  time 
before  it  began  to  dawn  upon  Kapustinsky  that  the  littla 
ones  looked  sickl}',  that  all  were  hoarse,  that  Katrine 
coughed  harshly  and  her  hands  were  feverish.  Terri- 
ble anxiety  suddenly  chased  all  the  joy  from  his  face. 

^'Oh,  we  fared  so  well  until  we  reached  Tifiis,"  said 
Katrine  in  haste.  ^'But  we  have  had  to  come  from  there 
over  these  hundred  miles  of  mountains  in  that  open 
cart.  Oh,  think  not  of  it,"  she  pled  piteously.  "Let  us 
have  our  joy;  we  are  united  again.  Let  us  thank  God. 
Have  we  not  said  in  our  home  there  in  Kursh,  that  we 
had  rather  die  in  exile  together  than  to  be  separated, 
or  to  be  false  to  our  Bible  and  to  our  conscience?"  It 
was  true.     The  children  had  heard  them  say  it. 

''Come  let  us  thank  God  in  our  new  home,"  said  the 
two  with  a  common  impulse.    They  sought  the  scooped- 


132  MODERN  BAPTIST 

out  mud  ihut — ^it  was  home,  sacred  and  glorious;  not 
an  eye,  young  nor  old,  but  beamed  with  joy  and  love. 
Together  they  kneeled  down  on  the  damp  earth  floor  to 
thank  God  for  their  reunion. 

Not  at  all  did  the  joy  decrease  as  the  weeks  followed; 
though  the  mother  could  not  shake  off  the  cough;  though 
it  was  difficult  to  get  enough  to  eat. 

^^Never  mind,  our  melons  will  soon  be  ripe,"  encour- 
aged Kapustinsky,  as  the  heat  of  the  summer  sun  red- 
dened them.  "We  can  eat  one  tomorrow,"  he  finally  said 
one  night.  The  children  went  to  sleep  thinking  of  the 
melon  as  in  some  countries  children  go  to  sleep  on 
Christmas  E^e  thinking  of  a  good  man  named  Santa 
Claus  who  brings  presents  on  that  night.  It  was  the 
little  Katrine  that  was  the  first  out  the  next  morn.  Her 
happy  skip  stopped  abruptly  before  the  melon  patdh. 
She  stood  rubbing  her  eyes,  with  mouth  agape;  suddenly 
she  turned  and  ran  back  into  the  hut  for  her  father. 

''They  are  all  gone!"  she  cried  dragging  him  out 
with  her.  The  others  followed  them,  all  except  the 
mother,  who  had  lain  sick  upon  her  bed  for  many  a 
day.  It  was  true.  Before  them  was  only  a  tangled 
ruin  of  trampled  and  broken  vines. 

"The  po»licemen  have  done  it,"  said  KapustinsKy. 
His  great  body  trembled  for  a  moment.  Was  it  wrath, 
or  was  it  despair  that  shook  him  so?  ''They  destroyed  a 
neighbor's  cabbage  patch  one  night,  and  cut  off  his 
mule's  hind  feet,"  he  added  lifelessly.    The  little  Kat- 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  133 

rine  had  thrown  herself  upon  the  ground  and  was  sob- 
bing wildly. 

''Come,  Pet/'  said  the  man  piteously.  "Try  not  to 
cry,  poor  mother  is  so  sick.'' 

It  was  not  for  many  more  days  that  the  mother 
suffered.    God  took  her  home. 

''It  is  so  sweet  to  be  here,"  she  murmured,  as  sha  felt 
her  husband's  arms  around  her.  "Sweet  to  die  here — 
we  worked — ^we  prayed — ^God  opened  the  way  for  us  to 
come — v^'-Q  are — here — ^together — "  and  then  she  slipped 
away. 

The  news  spread  around  through  the  district.  The 
other  brethren  ^crept  long  distances  to  be  with  their 
friend.  It  was  sweet,  indeed,  to  hear  their  simple  pray- 
ers as  they  crowded  inside  the  hut,  and  bowed  together 
before  the  Throne.  One  day  one  of  the  number  was 
stopped  by  the  prista.v,  a  policeman,  in  charge. 

"I  hear  you  are  having  prayer-meetings." 

"Oh,  not  ordinary  prayer-meetings,"  was  the 
alarmed  reply.  "We  have  not  held  an  ordinary^  prayer- 
m'eeting  since  they  were  forbidden." 

"But  you  have  been  ha\dng  prayer  together!"  ex- 
claimed the  officer  impatiently.  "Don't  try  to  get  out 
of  it  I" 

"Brother  Kapustinsky  has  lost  his  wife,  and  we  have 
prayed  with  him  to  show  him  our  brotherly  sympathy," 
pled  t/he  man. 

"Ha!  Kapustinsky,  indeed!  Holding  prayer-meet- 
ings in  his  izba.    Well,  Kapustinsky  shall  hear  of  this." 


134  MODERN  BAPTIST 

Hear  of  it,  indeed,  did  Brother  Kapustinsky.  One 
day,  soon  afterwards,  policemen  appeared  at  his  door 
and  serv^ed  a  sentence  on  him  for  his  removal  to  an 
awful  solitude  called  Terter;  in  that  spot  there  was  no 
access  to  human  sympathy.  To  Terter  he  went  with  his 
children,  and  dug  out  another  hole  in  the  earth  for  a 
habitation,  and  built  around  it  a  rough  fence  to  keep 
away  the  wild  beasts. 

In  this  place  Kapustinsky  lived  a  few  months. 
Much  he  talked  with  Anton,  helping  to  find  some  light 
for  the  children's  future.  'There  is  the  country  of  Amer- 
ica— keep  your  face  that  way,  Anton.  I  am  glad  you 
came  with  your  mother,  boy.  It  was  the  true  soldier — 
you  did  not  have  to  come." 

On  that  last  night  his  spirit  drifted  between  th^  vis- 
ible and  the  invisible.  The  children  hung  around  him 
for  a  word. 

''Have  I  been  a  good  soldier?"  whispered  Gregory. 

"Brave — oh,  so  brave — "  then  his  words  began  to 
murmoir  excitedly.  "A  great  host — yes — ^they  are  com- 
ing— ^they  are  witii  us,  boys,  (then  we  are  not  alone?)" 
with  perplexity,  "you,  Gregory — you'll  be  a  man  then 
— ^you'll  go  over  to  see  them.  They  vdW  come  over  and 
help  us — Anton,  it  is — America — "  The  rapture  of  the 
vision  tore  his  spirit  and  the  body  fell  back  upon  the 
pallet,  lifeless.  The  little  children  gazed  in  famishea, 
speechless  wonder. 

That  was  the  group  the  pristav  found  the  next  morn- 
ing as  he  went  his  rounds. 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  135 

"You're  no  exile,"  he  said  gruffly  to  Anton.  ''You 
can  get  on  back — I'll  help  you  with  these,"  he  added 
with  a  toss  of  the  head  to  the  children. 

Margaret  A.  Frost, 

Nashville,  Texn. 


BARON  WOLDEMAR  UIXKULL. 

He  dawned  first  upon  the  Baptists  of  the  world  at 
the  first  session  of  the  Baptist  World  Alliance,  London, 
1905.    In  reporting  that  meeting  I  wrote : 

"Baron  Woldeniar  Uixkull,  a  Russian,  is  here,  and 
he  is  a  favorite  at  all  times.  He  is  a  large,  blond  body 
of  charming  manners.  It  is  easy  to  count  him  a  baron. 
He  is  extremely  modest  and  yet  his  bearing  is  that 
of  one  who  is  ready  for  all  emergencies.  He  is  a  man 
of  few  words,  but  he  has  a  winning  smile,  suggestive 
of  sympathy  and  good  fellowship.  He  is  always  pres- 
ent and  evidently  is  deeply  interested  in  the  proceed- 
ings and  the  men  who  are  pressing  measures  for  larger 
things.  He  is  easy  of  approach,  but  no  man  has  put 
his  hand  upon  him.'' 

He  was  a  glorious  discovery  everyone  felt  and  as 
time  has  so  well  proven.  He  read  by  appointment  a 
comprehensive  paper  in  English,  giving  the  political 
and  religious  condition  of  Russia,  and  especially  of 
the  Baptists  and  Stundists,  the  latter  he  pronounced  as 
being  on  the  way  to  the  Baptists,  but  sadly  limited  by 
lack  of  education  and  culture.  He  reported  that  there 
were  already  in  Russia  about  twenty-five  thousand  Bap- 
tists and  perhaps  more  Stundists.     He  pled  for  help 


1 38  MODERN  BAPTIST 

for  the  sadly,  the  brutally,  persecuted  brotherhood  in 
his  country  and  suggested  that  what  was  needed  most 
was  a  training  school  for  their  rising  ministr^^  He  was 
invited  to  America  and  the  next  year  he  came,  and  he 
attended  both  the  Northern  and.  Southern  general  Bap- 
tist bodies  and  found  a  warm  brotherly  welcome  and 
a  hearty  response  to  his  message.  It  was  a  joy  to  have 
him  as  a  guest  and  to  hear  him  tell  in  quiet,  yet  in 
graphic  words  of  the  sad  needs  and  the  heroic  suffer- 
ings of  our  brethren  in  his  home  land.  Baron  Uixkull 
opened  Russia  to  the  Baptist  world  and  laid  the  first 
foundations  there  for  ministerial  educajtion.  His  the- 
ological seminary  was  closed  by  the  government,  but 
the  aid  given  by  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union 
and  the  work  achieved  by  his  training  school,  which  he 
moved  from  Lodz  to  Riga,  aided  in  bringing  a  new  Bap- 
tist era  in  Russia.  Ten  of  the  younger  ministers  who 
came  from  Russia  to  the  Philadelphia  session  of  the  Bap- 
tist World  Alliance  had  spent  more  or  less  time  in  this 
school.  It  is  good  to  know  that  though  the  school  is 
closed  by  law,  certain  informal  meetings  are  yet  permit- 
ted daily,  where  instruction  is  given.  The  bulk  of  the 
money  raised  in  America  by  Baron  Uixkull  is  safely 
deposited  in  a  German  bank  and  only  the  interest 
is  'being  used  for  defraying  the  current  expenses  of 
the  instructions  being  given. 

Before  freedom  of  belief  was  granted  in  Russia,  and 
even  in  these  later  days,  this  heroic  nobleman  has  suf- 
fered greatly,  both  in  body  and  in  possessions.     He 


BARON   WOLDEMAE   UIXKULL. 


(139) 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  141 

was  not  wealthy,  but  he  possessed  means  which  enabled 
him  to  relieve  much  suffering  on  the  part  of  his  more 
humble  brethren;  but  his  means  have  been  diminished 
by  such  aid  and  by  repeated  fines  imposed  by  the  Russian 
government.  His  health  has  become  impaired,  but  he 
fights  on,  true  to  every  obligation.    He  says: 

^'Reval,  Russia:  My  Dear  Brother  in  Christ:  I 
thank  you  very  much  indeed  for  your  letter  full  of 
Christian  love.  It  was  so  kind  of  you  to  remember 
me.  I  was  indeed  sorry  not  to  attend  the  great  congress 
in  Philadelphia.  My  health  is  not  good ;  my  foot  makes 
me  trouble.  I  cannot  go  without  pain.  I  spent  this 
summer  in  the  Caucasus  among  the  peoples  of  Ossetes, 
Ingusehees,  and  Tschetshenzen,  who  have  no  idea  of 
Christ  and  His  message.  The  Ossetes  are  Christian 
Greek  Orthodox  by  name  and  listen  eagerly  to  the  Word. 
Nine  of  them  are  converted.  They  have  no  Bible  and 
no  liberty  together.  We  do  here  underground  work. 
You  can't  imagine  what  difficulties  we  have,  both  with 
authorities  and  darkness  of  the  peoples — ^but  Christ's 
presence  is  with  us." 

When  in  America,  Baron  Uixkull  related  this  in- 
cident, which  gives  a  good  picture  of  the  situation  then 
and  as  yet  in  Russia: 

'^A  Greek  Orthodox  sister  came  to  me  and  asked  to 
be  baptized,  and  I  tried  her  and  she  was  really  a  child 
of  God  and  she  understood  the  Scriptures.  But  the 
others  said,  'Brother,  it  is  too  dangerous;  the  Greek 
Orthodox  will  send  you  to  prison  and  banish  you  to 


142  MODERN  BAPTIST. 

Siberia/  They  said  to  the  sister:  'Go  tomorrow  on  the 
sea  shore  at  sunset  and  the  brethren  will  come  with  a 
certain  man,  and  you  ask  him,  ''Is  this  Philipus?"  If 
lie  says  yes,  you  ask  him  to  baptize  you  and  he  will 
baptize  you,  and  then  when  the  police  find  out  you  are 
a  Christian  and  ask  who  baptized  you,  you  can  say 
"Philipus".'  How  many  times,  how  many  times  we  have 
taken  into  our  meetings  the  Greek  Orthodox  sisters  and 
brothers!  How  often  the  police  have  come  in  a  mob 
and  broke  up  the  meetings!  With  sticks  they  would 
send  us  away,  and  the  preacher  they  would  take  and 
put  in  prison.  How  many  times  brethren  have  been 
sent  to  Siberia  and  died  there!" 

In  the  following  statement  Baron  Uixkull  gives  in 
bis  own  words  the  story  of  his  conversion,  a  story  full 
of  pathos  and  power: 

^'I  have  been  asked  to  tell  you  how  I  was  converted, 
and  how  I  came  from  death  to  life  and  from  darkness 
to  light.  I  was  born  a  Lutheran  in  the  Lutheran 
Church.  My  parents  were  Lutherans  and  the  education 
I  received  was  worldly  rather  than  religious.  We  had 
no  Sunday  school  in  Russia,  and  dancing  and  driving 
were  my  pleasures.  Through  bad  books  and  bad  friends, 
by  and  by  I  became  an  atheist.  I  did  not  believe  any- 
thing; I  did  not  believe  in  God;  I  did  not  believe  in 
eternity;  and  I  was  not  happy.  I  feared  to  die.  I 
tried  to  do  what  seemed  to  me  just  and  good,  but  sin 
was  always  mightier  than  I.  Then  God  sent  a  revival 
to  the  province  where  I  lived,  and  when  I  heard  that 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  143 

persons  were  gathering  in  their  little  houses,  praying 
the  whole  night,  I  thought  that  was  madness.  I  thought 
they  were  fanatics  to  pray  and  preach  the  whole  night; 
but  when  I  saw  the  life  of  those  people  I  was  obliged 
to  say  it  was  a  good  life.  I  knew  a  man  who  was  a 
drunkard  and  a  thief,  but  when  he  was  converted  he 
did  not  drink  any  more;  several  others  paid  back  what 
they  had  stolen  and  confessed  their  sins;  so  I  thought 
religion  must  be  a  good  thing  for  uneducated  people. 
''When  the  brethren  came  to  me  and  asked  if  they 
could  have  meetings  on  my  estate,  I  said,  ^Yes;  and 
I  will  build  them  a  hall  where  they  can  gather,'  as  I 
thought  it  would  be  profitable  for  me  if  the  people 
would  be  honest  and  my  servants  would  not  drink. 
After  the  hall  was  finished  they  asked  me  to  be  present 
when  it  was  opened.  I  did  not  like  to  attend  a  religious 
meeting,  but  thought  it  was  right  I  should  be  there  the 
first  time,  so  I  went.  They  sang  and  preached  and 
prayed ;  after  the  meeting  I  shook  hands  with  the  breth- 
ren and  said,  ^I  wish  you  all  success;  may  you  convert 
,many  people.  I  think  this  movement  is  very  well  for 
the  peasants.'  They  said,  '0  no;  it  is  well  for  every- 
body.'  I  replied,  Teople  with  higher  education  do  not 
need  it;  the  Bible  is  a  book  written  no  differently  from 
any  other  book.'  They  said,  'It  is  the  Word  of  God,' 
and  I  v/ent  home.  They  had  two  sorts  of  meetings; 
one  where  they  called  sinners  to  Jesus,  confessing  their 
sins  to  Jesus,  and  then  there  were  others  where  only 
children  of  God  met;  and  they  said,  'We  will  pray  for 


144  MODERN   BAPTIST. 

the  Baron  until  he  is  converted ;'  but  I  did  not  know 
that  they  were  always  praying.  I  was  troubled  in  my 
heart.  I  was  alone  in  my  home,  and  the  Lord  sent 
me  difficulties,  and  I  thought  it  would  be  a  good  thing 
to  have  a  friend  to  speak  to  about  all  those  things  and 
difficulties,  and  I  had  nobody. 

''I  thought  perhaps  the  Lutheran  pastor  in  my 
neighborhood  could  give  me  good  advice,  and  I  went 
to  him.  He  was  not  a  spiritual  man,  but  God  gave  me 
good  advice  through  him  as  I  spoke  to  him  and  told 
him  of  my  troubles.  He  said,  'There  is  only  one  who 
can  help  you;  that  is  God;'  and  I  said,  Tastor,  how  can 
I  pray?  I  do  not  believe  in  God.  You  know  I  do  not 
believe  in  God.'  He  said,  'I  cannot  give  you  any  more 
advice.'  So  I  went  home  but  was  not  satisfied.  I  found 
a  book  at  home,  a  new  one  of  Tolstoi's,  very  interesting, 
and  I  read  it.  It  was  the  book  'Why  Do  We  Live.' 
Tolstoi  says,  'We  live  to  love,  and  only  his  life  is  blessed 
and  happy  who  loves.'  He  says  all  great  philosophers, 
all  wise  men  in  the  world,  have  also  said,  only  this  life 
is  happy  where  there  is  love.  He  said  that  Buddha, 
Plato,  Socrates,  Confucius,  and  Jesus  of  Nazareth  all 
teach  it,  and  I  liked  this  teaching.  It  was  something 
I  could  accept.  Tolstoi  spoke  more  of  Jesus  than  of 
Socrates  or  of  Plato  or  of  Buddha.  I  liked  Jesus  as  a 
great  man,  as  the  French  people  like  Napoleon  or  the 
German  people  like  Goethe,  and  I  wished  to  know  more 
of  Him.  And  I  thought,  where  can  I  read  about  Jesus? 
Then  I  remembered  my  old  Bible  that  I  had  when  I 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  145 

was  a  boy  in  school;  so  I  found  it  and  began  to  read 
the  Gospels.  Jesus  was  very  interesting  to  me ;  His  per- 
sonality, His  teaching,  His  life.  His  kindness,  all  were 
so  attractive;  and  He  seemed  to  grow  and  grow  before 
me.  Then  at  last  I  thought  perhaps  He  really  is  more 
than  a  man.  I  was  troubled.  I  did  not  know  what  to 
believe  or  what  to  think.  Some  people  say  He  is  the 
Son  of  God.  Some  people  say  He  is  only  a  great  teacher. 
Which  is  true?  What  shall  I  beheve?  Then  I  re- 
membered that  the  pastor  told  me  to  pray.  How  could 
I  pray?    I  did  not  believe  it.    I  can  try. 

"My  first  prayer  was  in  October,  1890,  in  the  night. 
I  prayed,  '0  God,  if  You  are  there  above,  then  show  me 
the  truth.  I  do  not  know  if  You  are  there  above,  but 
if  You  hear  prayers,  then  show  me  the  truth.'  Then 
I  went  on  reading  the  Gospel  of  St.  John.  The  book 
was  changed;  there  was  a  new  light  in  the  book.  My 
eyes  were  also  changed;  there  was  a  new  light  in  them 
to  see  things  in  the  book.  Jesus  was  so  beautiful  and 
so  great  in  my  eyes  that  I  saw  He  was  really  more  than 
a  man.  He  was  truly  the  Son  of  God.  Then  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  began  to  teach  me  and  to  show  me  that  if 
He  was  the  Son  of  God,  how  precious  was  His  life  and 
His  blood  that  He  gave  for  us — oh  how  precious — much 
more  than  the  life  and  blood  of  one  man,  more  than  the 
life  of  all  humanity  together,  because  humanity  is  only 
His  creation,  while  He  is  the  Creator.  So  His  life  and 
blood  are  worth  much  more,  and  His  blood  is  so  pre- 
cious ;  then  the  sins  of  all  men  are  paid.  Then  I  thought, 


146  MODERN  BAPTIST- 

'Well,  if  the  sins  of  all  men  are  paid,  then  mine  also 
are  paid.'  Then  came  the  joy,  the  heavenly  joy  in 
my  heart,  and  then  began  my  life — before  it  was  only 
death.  But  now  came  the  real  life  and  the  happiness, 
and  I  was  inexplicably  happy  with  Jesus;  and  I  know 
that  my  name  has  been  written  in  the  Book  of  Life  and 
my  sins  have  been  forgiven. 

^'Then  I  thought,  now  you  must  be  honest  and  go 
to  those  converted  men  and  say  that  they  were  right 
and  you  were  wrong.  One  night  I  went  to  a  meeting  of 
the  children  of  God.  I  said,  'I  have  something  to  tell 
you — you  were  right  and  I  was  wrong.  And  now  God 
has  shown  me  the  truth,  and  your  God  is  my  God, 
your  Savior  my  Savior,  your  Bible  my  Bible.'  They 
said,  'We  have  prayed  many  times  for  you,  and  now 
God  has  given  us  what  we  asked;'  and  then  we  went  on 
our  knees  and  prayed  and  thanked  God  that  He  saved 
sinners.  When  we  stood  up  after  the  prayer,  an  old 
brother  put  his  hand  on  my  shoulder  and  said,  'Now 
you  must  also  confess  Jesus  because  it  is  written,  "He 
that  confesses  me  before  men  him  will  I  confess  before 
My  Father  and  His  Angels."  '  And  I  said,  'That  religion 
is  for  better  educated  people;  and  I  have  not  studied 
theology,  I  cannot  preach.'  They  said,  'That  does  not 
matter;  the  Holy  Spirit  will  be  with  you  because  you 
believe  in  Jesus,  and  He  will  teach  you  how  to  speak.' 
And  so  by  and  by  I  became  a  preacher." 

J.  N.  Prestridge,  Louisville,  Ky- 


A  STUNDIST'S  CONVERSION. 

The  sun  was  going  down  behind  the  forest  and  his 
last  rays  fell  across  the  snow  and  the  field.  The  land 
stretched  out  in  one  unbroken  level  before  the  eye. 
Near  the  forest  was  a  village,  through  which  ran  one 
long  street,  lined  on  either  side  with  one-story  frame 
houses,  roofed  with  thatching.  Between  and  behind  the 
houses  were  small  gardens.  The  day's  task  was  done. 
Some  of  the  peasants  were  coming  into  the  town  with 
potatoes  and  rye  to  sell;  others  have  brought  hay  from 
the  meadows;  still  others  were  bringing  wood  and  dry 
branches  from  the  forest.  Animated  groups  were  gath- 
ered here  and  there  on  the  street.  The  news  had  spread 
that  a  stranger  had  arrived.  And  it  was  said  that  there 
would  be  a  gathering  in  the  evening  in  the  house  of 
Evan  Kelmenko  and  that  everyone  was  welcome. 

Peter  Vasiliaf  thought  he  would  go  and  hear  what 
this  stranger  had  to  say.  He  had  heard  that  Evan  and 
his  friends  did  not  attend  the  Greek  Orthodox  Church 
any  longer  and  that  they  had  removed  the  holy  pictures 
of  the  saints  from^  the  corner  of  the  room — the  pictures 
that  every  peasant  has  in  his  home.     He  knew  that 


148  MODERN  BAPTISTr 

Batiuschka,  the  priest",  was  very  angry  because  Evan 
was  spreading  the  new  teaching  in  the  village  and  that 
several  times,  when  there  had  been  illness  among  the 
cattle,  or  a  drought,  Batiuschka  had  said  that  it  was 
a  punishment  of  God  for  the  heresy,  which  Evan  was 
spreading.  And  sometimes  at  the  village  saloon,  Peter 
himself  had  spoken  disrespectfully  of  those  anti-'Christs 
and  heretics,  ridiculing  and  mocking  them. 

But  this  time  he  resolved  he  would  go  and  hear  this 
stranger.  He  was  soon  on  his  way  to  Evan's  home. 
As  he  strode  along  he  received  many  admiring  glances, 
for  he  had  a  fine,  well-proportioned  figure.  He  had  on 
the  customary  high-topped  leather  boots  reaching  to 
the  knees.  He  wore  a  coat  of  fur,  with  the  fur  turned 
inward.  He  also  wore  a  fur  cap.  As  he  approached 
the  house  he  heard  a  Russian  hymn,  harmonious  and 
melancholy,  sung  with  a  live  and  stirring  tempo  as 
it  came  fromi  consecrated  hearts.  He  took  off  his  cap 
and  went  in. 

The  room,  large  but  low,  was  already  crowded.  It 
had  been  transformed  into  a  meeting  hall.  As  there 
were  not  seats  enough,  they  had  placed  plank  from 
chair  to  chair,  thus  forming  rude  benches.  At  one  end 
of  the  room  was  a  table  covered  with  a  white  linen 
cloth,  upon  which  were  two  lighted  candle-sticks,  giving 
an  uncertain  light  in  the  room.  The  women  were 
seated  on  one  side  and  the  men  on  the  other.  As  the 
benches  were  filled,  Peter  remained  near  the  door, 
standing  with  other  young  men. 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  149 

After  the  hymn  was  sung,  the  owner  of  the  house 
Btood  and  invited  the  people  to  worship  God.  He  said: 
"God  is  everywhere.  As  near  in  the  house  as  in  the 
church,  as  near  in  the  field  as  in  the  wood.  It  is  pos- 
sible in  a  simple  prayer  to  draw  near  to  God.  God 
is  love.  And  God  is  willing  to  bless  those  who  gather 
in  the  name  of  Jesus,  His  beloved  Son.  Kneeling,  he 
gave  utterance  to  the  feelings  of  his  heart.  He  thanked 
the  Lord  that  his  eyes  had  been  opened  and  that  his 
sins  were  forgiven.  He  prayed  that  all  in  the  room 
might  have  peace  with  God.  He  prayed  for  guidance 
and  direction  for  the  preacher,  who  had  traveled  so 
^auy  miles  to  speak  to  them." 

Then  the  stranger  stood  up  and  began  to  preach. 
He  first  read  1  Cor.  14:20-25.  Then  he  said  there  are 
different  tongues  in  the  world.  There  are  tongues  which 
curse  and  lie  and  revile  the  people  of  God.  Peter 
thought:  ''Well,  that  means  me.  How  often  have  I 
cursed  when  my  horse  could  not  draw  the  sled  out  of 
the  wood.  How  often  I  have  laughed  at  those  who  are 
singing  the  praise  of  God."  Then  the  preacher  said 
that  God  would  give  a  new  heart  and  a  new  tongue — 
a  heart  full  of  love  for  God  and  man  and  a  new  tongue 
to  praise  the  Lord.  He  related  how  many  times  those 
who  once  ridiculed  and  mocked  had  received  new  hearts. 
He  told  how  necessary  it  is  to  be  guided  in  all  con- 
versation by  God,  but  especially  when  preaching  the 
Gospel,  in  order  that  the  hearts  of  the  unconverted  may 
be  touched  and  they  may  be  converted.     He  said  that 


150  MODERN  BAPTIST. 

the  secrets  of  men's  hearts  are  revealed  and  they  fall 
down  and  worship  God.  As  the  preacher  thus  spoke, 
Peter  fell  on  his  knees,  exclaiming:  '^I  am  the  man.  1 
know  you  tell  the  truth,  for  you  have  described  just  the 
kind  of  man  I  have  been."  From  this  time  Peter  at- 
tended the  meetings,  and  though  he  had  much  to  suffer 
for  the  Gospel,  he  was  ever  true  to  his  new-found  faith. 
This  is  a  true  recital  of  a  Stundist  conversion  in 
a  Russian  village.  If  men  and  means  were  provided 
this  scene  might  be  reproduced  in  thousands  of  Russian 
villages. 

Baron  Woldemar  Uixkull. 

Reval,  Russia. 


BLOSSOMING  INTO  BAPTISTS. 

The  Spirit  of  God  has  been  mightily  at  work  in 
Russia  and  men  have  proved  their  faith  by  every  test. 
They  have  endured  poverty,  imprisonment  and  martyr- 
doms enough  to  give  us  sufficient  material  to  write  a 
Book  of  Acts  ten  times  as  large  as  that  in  our  New  Tes- 
tament. 

The  touch  I  have  had  with  these  people  gives  me 
faith  to  believe  that  there  will  grow  in  Russia  a  Protest- 
ant force  which  will  send  to  us  across  the  sea  the  in- 
spiration which  we  need  in  our  own  lethargy. 

A    REMARKABLE    MAN. 

I  know  Wassily  Ossipowitch  Rachoff,  born  in  Arch- 
angel, who  spent  eight  years  in  solitary  confinement 
in  the  cloister  prison  at  Susdal;  and  this  is  his  story: 
He  was  twenty-two  years  of  age  when  he  was  converted 
through  reading  the  New  Testament.  He  was  then  en- 
gaged in  business  in  Archangel  and  the  Spirit  of  God 
sent  him  into  the  surrounding  villages  to  teach  and  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  the  poor.  Such  poor  as  there  are 
in  the  district  of  Archangel  are  not  to  be  found  any- 
where else  in  Russia.    They  are  so  degraded  by  their 


152  MODERN  BAPTISTS 

poverty  that  they  live  like  animals  and  act  like  them. 
The  coming  among  them  of  Rachoff  was  like  the  coming 
of  the  Messiah.  He  taught  the  children  to  read  and 
write;  he  read  to  the  older  ones  out  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment; he  fought  their  thirst  for  vodka  and  conquered 
their  appetites;  he  preached  and  lived  to  the  conversion 
of  their  souls.  Men  and  women  were  changed,  whole 
villages  revived  from  their  stupor  into  which  ages  of 
neglect  had  cast  them. 

The  priest,  who  himself  was  a  drunkard  and  a  gam- 
bler, did  not  relish  the  message  of  this  newcomer,  and 
Rachoff  was  driven  from  the  district.  He  left  the  ex- 
treme north  and  went  to  the  south,  where  no  one  knew 
him;  he  began  his  activity  by  teaching  and  preaching, 
living  in  a  suburb  of  Odessa,  where  poverty  and  vice 
were  completely  at  home.  He  felt  the  horror  of  it 
all  and  it  overwhelmed  him.  He  knew  that  Odessa  was 
a  wealthy  city,  and  he  wanted  the  help  of  the  rich  in 
his  redemption  work ;  so  in  order  to  impress  upon  them 
their  responsibility,  he  rose  in  his  seat  in  the  theater, 
before  the  performance  began,  and  pleaded  for  his 
people.  He  was  arrested,  sent  back  across  the  country 
to  Archangel,  lay  in  prison,  but  was  finally  permitted  to 
go.  In  Kiev  he  was  again  arrested,  again  sent  across  the 
country  to  Archangel,  and  again  cast  into  prison.  All 
the  time  he  was  like  a  brother  to  the  prisoners.  He 
exhorted,  preached,  ministered  and  saved.  He  converted 
his  jailers  so  that  they  left  the  doors  of  his  prison  open, 
that  he  might  come  and  go  at  will. 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  153 

A   STORY    OF    PERSECUTION. 

At  Archangel  he  performed  the  modern  miracle  of 
changing  cold  water  into  warm  soup,  of  transforming 
slums  into  homes,  and  literally  feeding  the  ''five  thou- 
sand" twice  a  week.  Educated  and  wealthy  people  came 
to  hear  his  preaching  and  he  read  the  gospels  and  ex- 
plained them,  while  the  poor  ate  and  drank.  But  the 
government  closed  his  house  of  refuge,  forbidding  him 
to  feed  the  people  or  to  read  to  them.  Undaunted,  he 
went  from  hut  to  hut,  and  his  influence  is  felt  today 
among  that  wretched  population.  He  founded  an  or- 
phanage, a  trade  school  and  a  hospital;  but  while  he 
was  at  the  height  of  his  ministry  he  was  again  arrested. 
Nothing  was  found  to  incriminate  him;  for  he  had 
never  taught  anything  contrary  to  the  established  faith. 
The  governor  of  the  city  defended  him  against  charges 
of  political  activity;  nevertheless,  he  was  torn  from  the 
arms  of  his  father  and  mother,  from^  the  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  poor  whose  brother  he  had  been,  and  was 
sent  to  the  Convent  prison  of  Susdal.  The  mother  died 
there  a  few  months  after  his  imprisonment,  and  the 
father,  going  from  authority  to  authority,  pleading  for 
his  son,  was  also  crushed  by  the  task  and  by  his  sorrow 
and  died  within  a  year. 

Not  until  two  years  ago  (1904)  did  Rachoff  leave  the 
prison,  broken  in  body  and  in  spirit,  a  perfect  wreck. 
Rachoff  illustrates  a  type  of  Christianity  not  uncommon 
in  Russia ;  for  their  are  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands 


154  MODERN   BAPTISTV, 

of  them,"who  through  faith  subdued  kingdoms,  wrought 
righteousness,  obtained  promises,  .  .  .  who  had  trials 
of  mockings  and  scourgings ;  yea,  moreover  of  bonds  and 
imprisonments.  They  were  stoned,  they  were  torn  asun- 
der, they  were  tempted ;  .  .  .  being  destitute,  afflicted 
and  evil  entreated'^  (of  whom  Russia  was  not  worthy). 

BLOSSOMING  INTO  BAPTISTS. 

In  the  government  of  Saratoff  there  are  communities 
nominally  belonging  to  the  Greek  Church,  which,  as 
soon  as  religious  liberty  becomes  a  fact,  will  blossom 
into  Baptist  churches.  The  whole  South  is  honeycomb- 
ed by  sects,  more  or  less  like  us,  in  faith  and  in  practice. 

Should  American  churches  come  to  their  aid,  they 
will  find  many  strange  things.  They  will  find  a  prim- 
itive faith  among  these  people,  undisturbed  as  yet  by 
the  questionings  of  the  higher  criticism.  They  will 
find  crude  and  ancient  practices,  down  to  the  washing 
of  really  travel-stained  feet;  fhey  will  find  that  most  of 
these  Christians  believe  that  the  Gospel  is  not  poetry 
but  real  prose,  and  that  its  law  is  as  binding  today  as  it 
was  upon  the  early  church.  They  will  find  new,  rich 
wine,  which  will  not  fit  into  our  old  wine  skins. 

"God's"  still  "in  His  Heaven,  and  all's  right  with 
the  world"  even  in  Russia. 

E.  A.   Steiner. 
From  the  Congregation alist. 


BAPTIST  FILE-LEADER  OF  BOHEMIA. 

Tindrich  (Henry)  Novotny  was  born  1846  on  the 
12th  of  July,  in  Lhota  Resetova,  in  the  east  of  Bohemia. 
This  part  of  Bohemia  is  the  purest  with  regard  to  the 
national  language.  In  the  Germanizing  time  (after  the 
Thirty  Years'  War)  this  part  remained  pure  Cechish.  In 
the  anti-reformation  time  this  part  of  Bohemia  had 
man}^  secret  '^Bohemian  Brethren".  The  father  of  Tin- 
drich Novotny  was  a  very  interesting  man.  He  was  an 
enemy  of  the  priests  and  sympathized  with  the  Protes- 
tants, who  were  beginning  to  live  again  in  that  part  of 
the  neighborhood.  Though  a  Roman  Catholic,  he  was  a 
business  man  and  the  mayor  of  several  villages  in 
Bohemia,  and  closed  his  eyes  when  they  wor- 
shiped their  God  in  ''an  unlawful  way".  He  was 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  new  epoch  which  came  in  1848. 

When  Tindrich  was  only  four  years  old,  once  when 
sitting  near  the  window,  he  looked  through  and  saw  in 
the  street  a  crucifix  and  asked  the  astonishoJ  mother: 
•'Mother,  is  this  Jesus  a  living  Jesus?"  "Of  course,"  said 
the  mother.    "But  he  never  moves !" 

When  Tindrich,  his  only  son  and  his  pride,  started 


156  MODERN  BAPTIST. 

to  go  to  school  and  began  to  think  about  religious  mat- 
ters, the  father  sent  him  to  a  secret  religious  meeting 
in  the  village  (a  Protestant  one),  and  the  young  Tin- 
drich  soon  was  the  ^'reader''  of  the  Bible  to  the  congre- 
gation. He  was  soon  so  acquainted  with  the  Bible,  that 
when  one  day  one  of  the  Protestants  in  the  \dllage  died, 
and  because  the  pastor  could  not  come,  the  young  lad 
Tindrich  was  called  to  be  the  ^'pastor  at  the  funeral." 

He  preached  about  the  text  Philippians,  1 :21,  and 
after  the  funeral,  the  people  in  the  villagB  said  to  each 
other:  'This  boy  ought  to  be  a  pastor,  he  ought  to 
study!"  When  the  father  of  Tindricli  was  dying  and 
the  Roman  Catholic  priest  came  to  bring  the  Holy  Com- 
munion, he  turned  his  face  and  sent  him  away  and 
allowed  only  Tindrich  to  read  to  him  the  Bible  and  to 
pray  wdth  him. 

When  he  died,  the  priest  refused  to  attend  the  funer- 
al of  the  mayor — so  he  was  buried  in  a  grave,  which 
was  not  sprinkled  with  the  ''Holy  Water"  (a  great  of- 
fence for  the  Catholics). 

Tindrich  remembers  that  when  he  was  a  boy  and 
was  sent  by  the  father  to  the  near  big  town,  on  the  way 
he  used  to  weep,  because  he  had  many  inward  storms; 
he  saw  the  great  contrast  between  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  and  the  religion  of  the  New  Testament.  He 
longed  for  light.  Once  when  he  was  again  in  the  meet- 
ing and  was  reading  the  Bible,  he  decided  to  be  a  Prot- 
estant, and  he  said  it  loudly :  'T  want  to  be  a  Protestant, 
who  will  be  my  witness?"     (That  was  necessar}^  at  that 


HENRY  NOVOTNY. 


157) 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  159 

time.)  And  he  did  it,  still  a  young  lad  (about  eighteen 
years  of  age).  But  this  was  only  a  step  to  his  future 
complete  conversion.  In  this  time  was  Tindrich  a  very 
promising  young  business  man.  He  had  valuable  experi- 
ences and  a  good  capital  as  well;  he  wanted  to  have  a 
business  for  himself.  In  the  same  time  some  of  the 
Protestant  pastors  saw  his  evangelical  gifts  and  tried  to 
persuade  him  to  leav^  his  businass  and  go  for  theological 
study.  He  refused  for  some  time,  but  at  last  decided 
to  obey  the  voice  of  God  as  well  as  the  wish  of  the 
pastors.  In  1870  he  went  to  Basel  in  Switzerland  and 
remained  there  in  the  theological  seminary  four  years. 
Then  he  was  called  to  Prague  as  an  evangelist  by  an 
American  mission  society.  In  1875  he  married  Anna 
Kastomlatska.  In  1881  he  went  with  his  wife  and  two 
children  to  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  to  study  in  the  Free 
College  there.  After  coming  home,  he  continued  in 
his  work.  As  he  was  an  industrious  reader  of  the  Bible, 
soon  arose  the  question  about  the  baptism.  He  helped 
himself  with  compromises.  First  of  all  that  both  the 
ways  of  '^baptism"  (immersion  of  grown-up  people 
as  well  as  the  sprinkling  of  infants)  are  biblical;  but 
it  was  difficult  to  find)  the  biblical  arguments  for 
it.  The  second  difficulty  was  (when  he  was  half  per- 
suaded) that  he  had  a  good  promising  work  in  the 
church  (Free  Reformed)  and  that  this  question  would 
mean  a  great  battle  and  perhaps  the  loss  of  situation. 
The  last  difficulty  was,  however,  only  a  little  one,  as  he 
thought  to  get  easily  rich  as  a  good  merchant,  because 


160  MODERN   BAPTIST 

he  used  to  be  a  very  experienced  business  man.  lie 
started  to  preach  about  baptism  and  spoke  with  several 
pastors  about  the  question. 

Soon  they  were  afraid  of  his  question  and  Tindrich 
Novotny  lost  his  situation  as  an  evangelist  because  he 
was  a  ^'dangerous'^  heretic  on  the  baptismal  question. 
For  a  short  time  he  was  alone,  left  alone  by  a]l.  In  the 
m'eantime  the  Baptists  in  Russian  Poland  (the  church 
at  Lodz)  heard  about  him  and  called  him  to  T/odz. 
There  he  was  baptized,  12th  of  February,  1885,  by 
Brother  Ondra.  At  the  baptismal  service  he  preached 
on  why  he  wanted  to  be  baptized.  Then  he  traveled 
in  the  different  churc^hes,  and  then  they  wanted  him 
to  be  the  <x>pastor  with  Brother  Ondra  at  Lodz  (the 
largest  Baptist  church  on  the  continent,  now  about 
two  thousand  members).  On  the  15th  of  March,  1885, 
he  was  ordained  as  a  Baptist  minister  at  Zyrardow.  He 
got  calls  from  Vienna,  Austria,  and  from  Saxony,  but 
he  tried  to  persuade  the  brethern  to  send  him  as  a 
Baptist  minister  to  Prague,  Bohemia,  to  work  there 
amongst  the  Roman  Catholics.  At  last  his  ideal  was 
realized,  and  on  the  25th  of  March,  1885,  a  Baptist 
church  was  constituted  near  Prague  with  sixteen  mem- 
bers. It  was  a  day  of  small  beginnings.  The  little 
Baptist  church  had  a  very  little  property,  almost  no 
religious  liberty,  no  hjnnn  books,  no  cups  for  the  com- 
munion, no  gowns  for  the  baptism,  but  they  had  one 
great  and  valuable  property,  an  enthusiasm  for  the  King- 
dom of  God,  and  this  property  at  last  brought  golden 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  161 

fruit.  The  greatest  difficulty  met  at  that  time  was  the 
authorities.  They  wanted  to  destroy  the  Baptist  church. 
The  pastor  was  called  before  the  court  numberless  times. 
He  was  three  times  before  the  highest  Imperial  Royal 
Court  at  Prague.  The  Catholic  newspapers  brought 
reports  full  of  lies  about  us.  Really  there  was  a  time 
when  the  pastor  was  obliged  to  go  to  the  authorities 
every  Monday  to  report  what  he  was  doing.  One  of  the 
judges  said:  ''If  I  could,  I  would  put  you  into  the 
idiot's  institute!"  When  the  number  of  the  members 
increased,  my  father  built  at  his  own  expense  a  little 
house  in  the  suburbs  of  Prague.    This  was  the 

FIRST   BAPTIST   CHURCH   IN    BOHEMIA. 

They  bought  chairs  and  all  the  necessary  things. 
But  the  joy  was  only  for  a  short  time.  The  authorities 
ordered  to  put  out  all  the  chairs  and  pews  and  to  close 
the  house.  The  poor  pews  were  outside,  it  was  raining 
on  them,  people  laughed  about  it.  What  to  do?  My 
father  decided  to  take  them  into  his  private  house. 
Since  that  time  the  services  were  held  in  his  house. 
The  Baptist  church  was  then  let  for  private  use.  But 
the  house  was  soon  not  large  enough,  and  so  my  father 
by  help  of  a  friend  abroad  hired  a  larger  hall.  But 
because  it  was  allowed  only  ''in  a  dwelling  place"  a 
young  brother  was  obliged  to  sleep  there,  as  ''in  his 
house."  Three  times  the  church  changed  thedr  hall, 
because  it  was  always  not  large  enough.    At  present 


162  MODERN  BAPTIST 

we  have  a  good  hall  for  about  two  hundred  people, 
where  we  pay  three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a  year  for 
the  rent,  and  this    hall  is  now  always  full. 

The  beginnings  were  very  hard.  Once,  when  my 
father  preached  in  a  village,  an  armed  policeman 
arrested  him  and  he  was  obliged  to  go  with  him 
about  two  hours  to  the  nearest,  police  station.  ^My  father 
used  these  two  hours,  and  because  he  could  not  preach 
in  the  \dllage,  he  preached  to  the  policeman.  In  the 
police  station  they  did  not  treat  him  very  nicely  and 
wanted  to  imprison  him.  He  was  far  from  home  and 
they  did  not  know  anything  about  him,  where  or  what 
he  was.  He  wanted  to  go  home,  but  how  to  do  it?  He 
got  a  happy  thought:  he  had  some  visiting  cards  from 
distinguished  English  Baptist  brethren.  So  he  at  once 
took  those  visiting  cards  and  showed  them  to  the  chief 
policeman  and  then  he  said;  ^^You  don't  treat  me  as  a 
gentleman;  do  you  know  who  I  am?  These  gentlemen 
are  my  friends!"  The  policeman  was  afraid  of  the 
English  visiting  cards,  and  therefore  ,said:  '^Excuse 
me,  sir,  would  you  like  to  go  home?"  Of  course,  he 
did  not  wait  for  another  inritation  to  go  home. 

The  judges  got  so  acquainted  with  him  that  at 
last  they  recognized  his  sound  ideals.  Once  when  he 
was  before  the  authorities,  one  of  the  judges  after  hav- 
ing been  very  cross  with  him,  because  of  his  endless 
preaching,  called  him'  into  his  private  study.  There  he 
said  to  him:  '^Now,  Mr.  Novotny,  I  speak  to  you  as  a 
friend,  not  as  a  judge,  don't  bother  about  us,  if  you 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  163 

can  transgre^  the  law  very  skillfully,  do  it,  but  we 
must  not  know  anything  about  if 

A  very  interesting  event  in  the  persecution  time. 
My  father  came  to  a  village  and  held  a  meeting  in  a 
house  of  one  of  our  members.  Afterwards  aM  of  them 
were  obliged  to  go  an  hour  and  a  half  to  the  next  town 
before  the  authorities  (forty-six  persons  were  called). 
The  judge  asked  our  host,  w^ho  invited  the  people? 
He  said:  ''They  came  alone."  Then  they  asked  my 
father,  why  he  preached.  He  said:  ''I  came  to  the 
house  and  there  was  a  company  of  decent  people  and 
they  asked  me  to  tell  them  something,  so  I  did."  Then 
the  judge  asked  the  people.  One  woman  said:  "J 
really  did  not  know  that  our  law  punishes  people  who 
pray  and  read  the  Bible;  I  am  astonished."  Another 
woman  said:  ^Tlease,  sir,  I  have  at  home  my  only  prop- 
erty, a  goat;  she  is  quite  alone,  she  would  die;  will  you 
allow  me  to  give  her  enough  to  eat  before  I  go  to  prison?" 
They  asked  my  father  why  he  did  not  send  the  people 
home.  He  said,  he  was  himself  a  guest;  he  had  no 
right  to  do  it.  In  the  different  villages  the  policemen 
asked  the  people  when  the  Baptist  pastor  will  come 
again,  but  they  never  said  when. 

My  father  was  a  hard  worker.  He  soon  started  sev- 
eral branches  in  his  church;  Sunday  school,  young  peo- 
ple's guild,  choir,  mission  meetings.  And  he  was  the 
head  of  everything  (even  the  organist),  so  that  he  usu- 
ally had  on  Sunday,  seven  different  services. 

He  was  also  very  busy   in  the  literary  life.     He 


164  MODERN   BAPTIST: 

puiblished  for  information,  booklets  about  the  Baptists, 
numberless  tracts,  brochures,  and  was  for  eighteen  years 
an  editor  of  a  monthly  religious  paper. 

With  great  difficulty  was  given  the  religious  instruc- 
tion of  our  children.  Our  children  could  not  go  to 
father's  class  because  they  had  no  note  from  the  author- 
ized religious  instructors.  His  daughter,  although  she 
had  always  in  all  the  subjects  a  hundred  per  cent.,  could 
not  join  the  further  class,  because  she  did  not  go  to  the 
instruction  of  the  priests.  Father  sent  one  '^recurs" 
after  another  to  the  ''ministerium^'  of  education,  until  he 
won.  Today  the  Baptist  minister  is  the  teacher  of  the 
religion  of  Baptist  children  and  gives  his  own  note  on 
the  certificate  just  as  the  priest  for  his  children. 

A  great  victory  and  a  great  help  for  our  church  is 
our  Temperance  Association,  which  was  permitted  by 
the  highest  authority  in  Bohemia.  This  is  a  work 
apart  from  the  church,  but  in  our  hands.  This  work 
has  the  great  sympathy  of  the  people  of  Prague,  even 
of  people  who  do  not  sympathize  with  our  religious 
convictions. 

Our  attitude  towards  other  Protestants  in  Bohemia  is 
a  friendly  one.  Although  we  are  good  Baptists,  we  join 
other  Protestants  in  the  '^Constanz  Union,''  where  the 
subject  of  this  story  is  an  important  m.ember. 

Joseph  Novotny, 

Prague,  Bohemia. 


A  SAD  CASE  IN  FRANCE  RIGHTED. 

It  was  in  the  year  1853;  Napoleon  III  was  emperor 
and  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy  had  full  control  over 
government  and  people. 

Yet  God  had  never  left  Himself  without  a  true 
witness,  even  in  the  midst  of  the  deepest  darkness,  and 
side  'by  side  with  the  spirit  of  superstition  and  cowardice 
at  large,  there  has  always  been  found,  in  a  few  at  least, 
the  spirit  of  true  worship  and  of  Christian  heroism. 
Such  was  the  case  in  France  less  than  sixty  years  ago. 

A  few  miles  east  of  the  city  of  Campiegne,  the  castle 
of  which  at  that  time  was  the  customary  holiday-resi- 
dence of  the  emperor,  lies,  on  the  border  of  the  forest, 
the  little  village  of  Chelles.  In  that  village  lived  the 
Andru  family,  well-to-do  Catholic  farmers,  who,  through 
the  efforts  of  Pastor  J.  B.  Cretin,  were  soon  convinced 
of  the  errors  of  Rome  and  received  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus  Christ. 

Every  Sunday  a  religious  service  was  held  at  the 
farm ;  it  was  well  attended,  and  people  would  come  from 
the  neighboring  villages  to  hear  the  Gospel,  and  quite 
a  number  of  them  were  converted  right  there.  Of  course 
the  priest's  anger  and  jealousy  were  kindled  against  the 


166  MODERN  BAPTIST 

Christian  farmers,  and  he  did  all  he  could,  to  force 
them,  by  petty  trials,  to  cease  their  successful  propa- 
ganda. 

The  only  child  of  the  family  was  tabooed  by  the 
other  little  folks  and  finally  driven  out  of  school.  At 
harvest  time,  Andru  found  himself  without  reapers, 
the  priest  having  threatened  with  excommunication  any- 
one who  would  work  for  him.  But  the  opportunity 
soon  came  for  the  enemies  of  the  Gospel  to  strike  a 
serious  blow  against  the  faithful  family. 

The  grandfather,  Francois  Andru,  died  a  Christian 
man.  Pastors  Cretin  and  Lemaire  presided  over  the 
burial  ceremony.  Much  curiosity  was  aroused  in  the 
community,  as  it  was  the  first  Protestant  burial  ever 
witnessed.  A  crowd  of  more  than  four  hundred  people 
listened  to  the  preaching  of  the  Gosnel  that  day;  the 
hearts  of  many  were  stirred  and  genuine  interest  in  the 
"new  teaching"  was  manifested. 

It  was  just  what  the  priest  had  been  afraid  of.  He 
had  done  all  he  had  been  able  to  imagine  to, prevent 
such  a  result.  He  had  gone  to  the  mayor  and,  although 
the  burial  lot  had  been  already  bought  and  duly  paid 
for,  he  had  insisted  that  no  burial  license  should  be 
given  a  Protestant  until  the  government  representative 
in  that  case  the  "sous-prefet"  at  Campiegne,  had  granted 
it.  Andru  goes  to  Campiegne,  sees  the  secretary  of  the 
"sous-prefet"  who  assures  him  that,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  he  was  a  Protestant  and  a  Baptist ;  nobody  had  any 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  167 

right  to  interfere  with  the  burial,  and  who  gives  him 
accordingly  the  authorization  asked  for. 

One  can  easily  imagine  the  mad  disappointment  of 
the  priest  when  he  saw  the  ceremony  taking  place. 
What!  an  old  heretic  was  being  buried  in  the  Catholic 
cemetery,  a  few  yards  from  the  church  door,  and  that 
with  the  help  of  almost  all  his  parishioners!  That  wa3 
unbearable.  Something  was  to  be  done,  and  to  be  done 
at  once. 

First,  he  calls  upon  the  mayor,  who  says  he  cannot 
go  against  the  authorization.  Then  he  hastens  to  pay 
a  visit  to  the  ^'sous-prefet"  at  Campiegne,  and  does  so 
cunningly  plead  his  case  before  him,  with  threats  to  let 
the  bishop  know  about  the  whole  affair,  that  he  finally 
succeeded  in  extorting  from  the  government  official  a 
paper  allowing  him  to  have  the  body  of  the  Protestant 
disinterred  provided  the  mayor  would  consent  to  give 
his  signature.  Triumphing  already  the  priest  goes  back 
to  the  village  hall,  unfolds  the  precious  paper,  silences 
easily  the  last  scruples  of  the  weak-minded  mayor,  who, 
after  having  signed  the  burial  license,  now  signs  the 
permit  of  exhumation. 

Then  the  awful  deed  was  consummated.  The  sexton 
having  refused  to  disinter  the  body,  the  priest  had  to 
go  and  hire  drunken  men  to  do  the  job.  Dark  was  the 
night,  heavy  the  rain.  To  the  cemetery  they  went, 
guided  by  a  lantern,  carrying  picks  and  shovels.  They 
sought  for  the  body  which,  after  six  days  was  already 
decomposed.     With  pallid  faces,  chattering  teeth  and 


168  MODERN   BAPTIST- 

staggering  feet,  they  dragged  the  corpse  away  to  that 
part  of  the  cemetery  which  was  reserved  for  those  having 
committed  suicide.  The  villagers  were  so  indignant  at 
this  act  of  savagery  that,  finding  the  cane  of  the  priest, 
and  the  tools  which  had  been  used,  they  threw  them 
all  into  the  empty  grave  and  covered  them  with  earth. 

When  the  news  of  the  desecration  reached  the  mem- 
bers of  the  dear  Andru  family,  they  were  horror-strick- 
en, as  can  well  be  imagined.  They  tried  to  obtain  jus- 
tice, but  in  vain.  The  "sous-prefet"  claimed  they  had 
not  declared  they  were  Protestants  when  asking  for 
authorization.  The  mayor  said  he  had  simply  followed 
the  way  laid  out  by  his  superior.  As  to  the  priest,  he 
had,  to  him,  the  great  satisfaction  of  getting  the  bishop 
to  come,  with  splendid  apparel,  and  consecrate  over 
again  the  ground  of  the  cemetery  which,  he  said,  had 
been  outrageously  defiled  by  the  presence  of  the  body 
of  a  heretic. 

A  full  account  of  this  exhumation  has  been  publish- 
ed by  the  Progres  de  UOie,  of  Oampiegne,  in  the  No- 
vember 23,  1853,  number. 

The  rest  of  the  story  reads  like  a  novel.  Truly  the 
Lord  reigneth,  vengeance  is  His,  and  the  evil  of  man  is 
ultimately  to  be  changed  into  the  glory  of  God. 

A  few  months  after  the  above  related  events  had 
taken  place,  the  mayor  of  Chelles  was  found  hanged  in 
his  garret  and  was  accordingly  buried  with  those  having 
committed  suicide.    Private  scandals  led  the  ''sous-pre- 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  169 

fet"  to  shoot  himself.    The  priest  was  convicted  of  imr 
morality,  and  was  obliged  to  leave  the  parish. 

The  lot  of  the  persecuted  brethren  was,  on  the  other 
hand,  a  most  blessed  one.  Not  only  in  due  time  was  the 
body  of  the  beloved  departed  one  given  a  worthy  resting 
place,  but  through  these  sad  experiences  the  family 
gained  the  sympathy  and  esteem  of  the  whole  popula- 
tion. The  Sunday  meetings  at  the  farm  were  more 
successful  than  ever;  some  little  time  since  eleven  per- 
sons were  baptized  upon  confession  of  faith.  In  fact, 
this  was  the  beginning  of  a  revival,  the  fruits  of  which 
are  known  even  unto  this  day.  And  not  the  least  of 
them  was  the  conversion  of  the  only  child  of  the  farm- 
er. Rev.  Henri  Andru,  the  beloved,  honored  and  emi- 
nent secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Federation  of  Baptist 
Churches  of  Northern  France  and  Belgium. 

Paul  Vincent,  M.A.,  B.D-, 

Paris,  France. 


A  HERO  COLPORTER. 

In  correspondence  he  signs  himself,  '^Rottmayer 
John,'^  though  in  the  records  his  name  appears  85 
^'Johann  Rottmayer,  Jr."  He  is  a  giant  of  a  man, 
full-whiskered,  deliberate  of  movement,  solid  of  tread. 
One  can  well  imagine  him  perfectly  at  home  in  all  kinds 
of  places  and  under  all  sorts  of  hardships  and  persecu- 
tions. His  voice  is  low  and  is  soft  in  tone.  With  some 
degree  of  intimate  association  with  him  for  nearly  a 
week,  the  chief  characteristic  which  impresed  me  was 
his  gratitude.  In  his  home  in  Hungary,  he  had  received 
on  occasions  some  books  and  other  printed  matter,  the 
grateful  remembrance  of  which  shone  in  his  face,  and 
here  and  there  broke  into  words.  It  wdll  be  long  years 
before  the  tenderness  and  might  of  his  hand  grasp  will 
be  forgotten.  He  is  a  man  to  be  trusted  on  the  spot  and 
to  be  loved  ever  afterwards.  Some  of  these  things  are  to 
be  seen  in  his  face  even  when  in  black  ink  upon  cold, 
dead  paper. 

His  father  before  him  was  a  colporter  primarily  and 
public  speaker  as  occasions  presented  themselves,  and 
father  and  son  traveled  far  and  wide  over  a  number  of 
countries  scattering  Bibles  and  other  religious  books 
where  no  other  messenger  of  the  cross  ever  penetrated. 


172  MODERN  BAPTIST 

Our  hero  traveled  in  times  of  eminent  danger  over  rough 
roads  where  there  were  no  accommodations,  and  he  passed 
and  repassed  through  and  about  Hungary,  Austria,  Bo- 
hemia, Poland,  Bosnia,  and  the  Balkan  States.  Far 
away  from  the  beaten  track  he  left  a  torcli  of  light  for 
whole  neighborhoods,  and  passed  on  to  find  other  dark 
places.  He  was  the  agent  for  the  British  Bible  Society, 
and  so  his  supplies  were  unlimited  save  only  by  his 
ability  to  transport  his  wares. 

He  was  born  in  Budapest  two  years  after  J.  G. 
Oncken,  the  foundation  layer  of  the  Baptist  faith  upon 
the  continent  of  Europe,  had  sent  some  brethren  down  to 
Budapest  to  preach  the  Gospel.  It  was  greatly  in  his 
favor  that  he  had  a  godly  father  and  mother,  a  Christian 
home  full  of  prayer  and  praise  and  of  the  fervor  of  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 

In  the  year  of  1867,  young  Rottmayer  attended 
the  "Bundeseonferenz^'  in  Hamburg,  Germany,  and 
there  heard  Charles  Haddon  Spurgeon  preach  upon  sev- 
eral occasions.  He  says:  ''The  sermons  made  a  profound 
impression  upon  me,  and  a  new  world  was  opened  before 
my  eyes."  In  speaking  of  him.  Rev.  C.  T.  By  ford,  who 
knows  him  well  and  whose  voice  takes  on  a  softer  tone 
when  he  speaks  of  him,  said: 

"The  fellowship  of  brethren  in  two  great  churches 
in  Germany  had  very  much  to  do  witti  kindling  his 
spirit  and  in  enlarging  his  vision.  There  he  realized 
that  the  Baptists  were  not  a  mere  handful  of  believers 
in  Hungary,  but  a  great  company  of  believers  scattered 


JOHN  ROTTMAYER.  JR. 


(173) 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  175 

throughout  the  whole  world.  That  gave  him  new  courage 
and  added  to  his  strength. 

''He  remained  over  a  year  in  Hamburg,  and  then  for 
nearly  a  year  in  Berlin.  In  the  latter  city  he  met  and 
came  under  the  inihaence  of  G.  W.  Lehmann,  the  chief 
support  of  J.  G.  Oncken  and  other  leading  and  progres- 
sive brethren.  He  was  intimately  associated  with  the 
younger  Lehmann,  J.  G.,  who  is  now  at  Cassell,  the 
head  of  the  publication  board  of  German  Baptists,  an 
honored  brother  of  strong  character,  highly  educated 
and  greatly  beloved.  In  Berlin  he  joined  in  with  those 
with  whom  he  was  associated  and  engaged  in  church 
work,  and  particularly  with  the  young  people  in  Sunday 
schools  and  other  meetings." 

From  the^e  pleasant  and  profitable  surroundings  he 
undertook  work  for  the  Master  in  Holstein,  and  the  Hart 
Mountains.  His  aggressive  spirit  could  not  long  remain 
satisfied  while  communities  and  whole  states  lay  in  dark- 


The  laws  of  Hungary  impressed  him  and  he  entered 
the  army,  and  for  two  years  he  served  in  garrisons  in 
Dalmatia  and  Trieste,  and  then  in  the  towns  of  the 
Adriatic.  Released  from  this  service  where  we  are  sure 
he  did  not  forget  ^o»serve  his  Master  faithfully,  he  began 
his  work  as  a  distributor  of  the  Bible,  with  headquarters 
at  Vienna,  Austria.  He  became  the  founder  of  th« 
Baptist  church  in  Vienna,  the  first  meeting  being  held  in 
a  secluded  room.  The  police  forbade  them  to  sing  or  to 
pray,  but  as  cautiously  as  they  might  they  circumven'ted 


176  MODERN  BAPTIST 

the  police  and  continued  to  sing  and  pray.  This  church 
remains  today  and  it  is  full  of  th^  sacrificial  and 
fearless  spirit  of  its  founder. 

I  quote  again  from  the  records  of  Rev.  C.  T.  Byford, 
the  commissioner  of  the  Baptist  World  Alliance  to  the 
Continent  of  Europe: 

"Attempts  were  made  in  Vienna  to  organize  a  Sunday 
school,  but  the  friends  were  hindered  in  any  forward 
movement  by  the  hostility  of  the  police  and  the  priests  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  Owing  to  the  persistency  in 
preaching  the  Gospel  and  holding  meetings  for  worship, 
Rottmayer  was  taken  before  the  magistrates  and  fined 
twenty  kronen  (twenty-four  dollars)  for  each  offence. 
In  1906,  after  thirty-eight  years  of  strenuous  service  for 
the  Bible  Society,  Rottmayer  resigned  his  position  and 
retired  to  his  farm  at  Kolozsvar,  there  to  spend  the  even- 
ing of  his  days.  In  his  retirement  he  has  proved  to  be 
a  tower  of  strength  to  the  churches  in  Transylvania,  fre- 
quently visiting  the  brethren  and  preaching  for  them, 
and  on  several  occasions  he  has  undertaken  long  jour- 
neys to  Roumania  and  Bulgaria,  there  to  help  the  brave 
men  who  are  pioneering  in  these  countries.  His  heart 
still  burns  with  a  holy  passion  for  souls,  and  his  chief 
delight  is  to  be  found  in  helping  the  men  who  are  pro- 
claiming the  eternal  Gospel  amongst  the  many  and 
diverse  races  to  be  found  in  the  kingdom  of  Hungary. 
It  has  been  my  privilege  to  be  a  guest  in  his  charming 
home,  to  undertake  long  journeys  in  his  company,  to 
hear  him  sound  forth  the  message  of  the  cross,  to  meet 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  177 

with  the  members  of  his  family  in  other  parts  of  Hun- 
gary (the  wife  of  the  Rev.  L.  Preuss,  of  the  Budapest 
First  Church  is  his  eldest  daughter) ,  to  listen  to  his  fas- 
cinating stories  of  early  struggles  and  trials,  and  even 
t^iumplis,  and  my  intimate  knowledge  of  the  man  and 
hb  dear  wife  has  deepened  my  love  and  respect  for  him." 
There  is  no  way  to  estimate  the  suffering,  the  faith- 
fulne>^,  the  harvests  which  are  to  follow  the  sowings  of 
this  mighty  man  of  valor,  this  true  soldier  of  Jesu'j 
Christ.  To  know  him  quickens  faith  and  kindles 
the  spirit  to  press  on  at  all  cost  to  the  end. 

J.  N.  Pkestridge,  D.D., 

Louisville,  Ky. 


FOUR  HEROES  OF  THE  FAITH. 

ANDREAS  UDVARNOKI. 

"And  He  gave  some  apostles,  and  some  prophets,  and 
some  evangelists,  and  some  pastors  and  teachers." — P^ph. 
4:11. 

The  rapid  advance  of  the  Baptist  churches  in  Hun- 
gary is  in  no  little  measure  due  to  the  men  whom  Hein- 
rich  Meyer  gathered  around  him  during  the  first  twenty 
yeai-s  of  his  ministry.  Men  like  Michael  Kornya,  Mi- 
haly  Toth,  Lajos  Balogh,  Gyorgy  Gerwich,  and  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  Andreas  Udvarnoki,  the  minister 
of  the  Second  Budapest  church. 

Andreas  Udvarnoki  was  born  at  Szada,  in  the  Prov- 
ince of  Pest,  Hungary,  on  November  16,  1865.  The 
son  of  God-fearing  parents,  his  early  training  was  in 
connection  with  the  Reformed  Calvinistic  Church.  At 
sixteen  years  of  age  he  heard  for  the  first  time  an  itiner- 
ant Baptist  preacher,  with  the  result  that  he  was  not 
only  led  to  surrender  his  life  to  Jesus  Chris-t,  but  wa.^ 
subsequently  immersed. 

He  immediately  began  to  study  the  Holy  Scriptures, 


180  MODERN  BAPTIST 

and  as  opportunity  offered  he  visited  the  surrounding 
villages  to  preach  the  Gospel.  In  the  year  1S82  he  was 
brought  into  contact  with  Heinrich  ^Teyer,  under  whose 
guidance  he  labored  in  the  Gospel. 

Six  years  later  he  applied  for  admission  to  the  Bap- 
tist college  in  Hamburg,  and  for  four  years  he  pursued 
his  studies  in  the  Premier  Baptist  Preachers'  School  on 
the  continent.  His  course  in  the  Seminary  ended,  he 
returned  to  Hungary,  and  became  the  pastor  of  the 
church  at  TotfaJu. 

After  a  year  of  much  blessing  in  his  pastorate  there 
he  removed  to  the  church  at  Orszentnuklos,  where  he 
met  and  married  his  wife,  a  splendid  helper  in  the  Lord, 
a  saintly  woman  and  a  true  helpmate.  In  the  same  year 
seven  Hungarian  brethren  who  were  members  of  the  Ger- 
man Baptist  church  in  Budapest  received  permission  to 
found  the  present  church  in  the  capital  city  of  Hungary. 
Since  that  time,  1895,  the  church  has  grown,  until  at 
the  present  time  there  are  no  fewer  than  eight  hundred 
and  thirty-nin'e  members,  a  fine  suite  of  buildings  (too 
small  for  the  weekly  congregations),  twenty-eight  mis- 
sion stations,  and  work  in  no  less  than  six  counties.  The 
growth  of  the  work  brought  its  own  pecuHar  difficulties, 
not  the  least  being  that  some  of  the  stronger  stations 
were  clamoring  for  a  settled  pastor  and  regular  instvue- 
tion  in  the  Word  of  God,  whilst  on  the  other  hand  there 
were  numbers  of  young  men  anxious  and  ready  to  devote 
themselves  to  the  ministry. 

At  last  the  pressure  was  so  great  that  in  1905  An- 


ANDREAS  UDVARNOKL 


(181) 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  183 

dreas  Udvarnoki  stiarted  a  preachers'  school  in  two  rooms 
adjoining  his  own  house.  Eight  brethren  were  selected 
out  of  the  numerous  applicants,  and  the  work  of  the 
school  commenced.  Udvarnioki  taught  theology  and 
homiletics,  and  helped  in  the  other  classes,  teaching  in 
the  school  three  hours  daily,  and  this  in  addition  to  his 
pastoral  wofk,  visiting  his  many  stations  and  preaching 
four  times  weekly. 

His  is  a  busy  life ;  the  days  are  full  of  toil,  the  task 
is  a  prodigiouij  one,  and  oft-times  he  would  be  released 
from  his  laibors,  but  the  spirit  of  the  man  can  be  dis- 
cerned in  a  senttence  recently  uttered  when  talking  over 
these  matters  and  the  proposal  of  the  Baptist  World 
Alliance  to  found  a  Bible  school  for  eastern  and  south- 
eastern Europe:  ^'Until  that  day  arrives  I  must  hold 
fast  to  my  post.  1  am  a  soldier  under  the  command  of 
the  'Great  Commander-in-Chief,'  and  His  orders  must  be 
obeyed  until  He  gives  the  signal  to  stand  at  ease." 

MICHAEL  KORNYA,  HUNGARY. 

No  account  of  the  Baptist  movement  in  Europe  can 
be  counted  as  complete  without  reference  to  the  subject 
of  this  story.  He  has  been  as  blessed  of  God  in  his  la- 
bors as  any  Baptist  worker  in  any  country  in  Europe,  if 
not  in  the  whole  world. 

Michael  Kornya  was  born  on  February'  28,  1844,  in 
Nagy-Szalonta,  Hungary,  and  at  five  years  of  age  he  lost 


184  MODERN  BAPTIST 

his  father,  and,  owing  to  the  extreme  poverty  of  the  fam- 
ily, he  was  shortly  afterwards  sent  to  be  the  servant  of  a 
fanner,  spending  long  hours  every  day  tending  the  cattle 
and  pigs.  Of  schooling  he  had  pra<^tically  none,  be^^ond 
being  able  to  recognize  and  name  the  letters  of  the  alpha- 
bet ;  he  only  learned  to  read  after  arriving  at  manhood. 
In  1872,  a  copy  of  the  Scriptures  came  into  his  h'ands, 
and  Tvdth  many  of  his  fellow  farm-workers  he  began  to 
read  the  sacred  volume,  but  like  the  eunuch  of  Ethiopia, 
he  did  not  understand  what  he  was  reading.  The  fol- 
lowing year  Novak  came  into  the  district,  and  heard  of 
the  men  reading  the  Bible,  and  sent  for  Heinrich  Meyer 
to  come  from  Budapest  to  instruct  the  company.  The 
result  was  that  in  the  August  of  that  year,  Meyer  baptized 
eight  of  the  brethren  and  in  January,  1876,  eleven  others 
were  immersed,  and  in  May  of  the  same  year  eighteen 
followed  their  Lord  in  baptism.  The  thirty-six,  for  one 
had  left  the  district,  were  then  formed  into  the  first 
Baptist  church  in  Hungary,  with  Meyer  as  their  pastor. 
In  the  spring  of  1875,  Kornya  was  deeply  impressed  by 
reading  Matthew  28:19,  and,  as  a  result,  he  went  into  the 
villages  to  preach.  Here  he  won  his  first  convert,  An- 
dreas Liszt es,  who  is  still  in  active  service  in  Berettye- 
Ujfalu.  From  the  latter  place  the  work  extended  to 
Dcrecke  where  a  church  was  founded.  Meyer,  in  1877, 
became  seriously  ill,  and  'he  sent  for  John  Oncken  to 
come  from  Hamburg  to  ordain  the  two  brethren,  Kornya 
and  Toth.  The  ser\dce  was  held  in  Kagy-Szalonta,  and 
from  that  time  Kornya  and  Toth  baptized  their  own  con- 


HEROES  AND  MAETYRS.  185 

verts.  The  work  began  to  spread,  iniany  were  brought  to 
the  Lord,  and  churches  were  established  in  eight  counties. 

Meanwhile  the  enemy  was  not  asleep,  the  clergy  and 
priests  stirred  up  bitter  opposition  against  the  two  breth- 
ren, and  they  were  frequently  imprisoned,  beaten  with 
rods,  and  flung  into  chains.  Of  this  period  of  his  life, 
Kornya  says,  'The  persecution  did  not  cause  me  to  draw 
back,  since  the  work  of  the  Lord  filled  me  with  great 
joy."  In  the  year  1890  he  baptized  more  than  one 
thousand  persons  upon  profession  of  faith. 

Living  in  the  center  of  Hungary  are  many  thousands 
of  Roumanian  settlers,  poor,  neglected,  forsaken  men 
and  women,  counted  as  little  better  than  the  cattle  by 
their  educated  and  wealthier  neighbors.  In  1893  the 
brethren  turned  to  these  people,  and  began  to  declare  the 
Gospel  to  them.  The  work  was  exceedingly  difficult, 
months  of  weary  waiting  passed  by,  until  at  last  a  few 
were  baptized  and  a  church  formed  in  Kishaza.  From 
that  time  the  work  increased  and  multiplied  at  a  phe- 
nomenal rate,  and  scores  of  churches  have  been  founded. 

Kornya  alone  has  baptized  six  thousand,  three  hun- 
dred and  thirty-one  since  turning  to  them,  and  in  the 
year  1910  he  baptized  seven  hundred  and  nine  who  had 
given  their  hearts  to  Jesus  Christ.  How  many  churches 
there  are  amongst  these  people  no  man  can  rightly  say. 
At  present  they  have  no  effective  organization,  no  census 
has  been  taken,  and  the  fig-ures  change  with  the  passing^ 
week. 

Kornya  at  present  is  stationed  in  the  Bihar-Diovzeg 


186  MODERN  BAPTIST 

district,  whilst  Toth  is  laboring  in  and  around  Nag}'- 
Szalonta.  Both,  are  prematurely  old  men,  they  ^'bear  in 
their  bodies  the  marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus,"  and  for  their 
work's  sake  should  have  a  place  in  the  prayers  of  God's 
people  in  this  land. 

PETER  DOYCHEFF,  BULGARIA. 

To  mention  the  Balkans  to  the  average  man  is  to  he 
immediately  plied  with  que^ions  concerning  fierce  brig- 
ands, hardy  mountiaineers,  wily  diplomats,  and  the 
struggles  of  a  people  for  political  freedom  from  the  yoke 
of  the  "unspeakable  Turk,"  but  to  Baptists  Bulgaria 
should  be  a  land  of  intense  and  increasing  interest.  The 
story  of  Biaptist  beginnings  in  that  land  is  a  fascinating 
one,  it  can  be  summed  up  in  a  sentence.  And  they  that 
were  scattered  abroad  under  the  persecutions  which  arose 
under  Czar  Alexander  the  Third,  went  as  far  as  Bul- 
garia preaching  the  Word  'of  the  Lord,  and  many  gave 
themselves  unto  the  Lord,  and  were  added  unto  the 
church.  It  is  not  my  purpose  in  this  sketch  to  tell  the 
^ory  of  the  churches  at  Rustchuk  and  Lompalonka,  both 
founded  by  Russian  exiles,  or  of  Kazanlek,  where  the 
friends  advertised  for  some  one  to  come  and  baptize  them, 
or  of  the  many  interesting  communities  in  that  great 
land,  but  to  introduce  the  Bulgarian  pioneer  of  Baptisii 
principles  and  practices  in  southeastern  Europe. 

Peter  Doycheff,  of  Tchirpan,  is  a  giant  in  stature, 
gentle  and  winning  in  manner,  well  beloved  by;  the 


PETER  DOYCHEFP. 


(187) 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  189 

friends  who  have  been  led  to  Jems  Christ  under  hit 
teacliing,  a  univemty  graduate  living  the  life  of  th« 
p)ea£!ant3  around  him    for  the  Gospel's  sake. 

Born  at  Panagurishte,  a  large  town  some  sixty  niilea 
northwest  of  Philippopolis,  in  the  year  1 856,  he  eariy  in 
life  followed  the  trade  and  calling  of  our  own  Carey,  and 
whilst  busy  earning  his  daily  bread  at  the  making  of 
shoes  he  was  brought  to  the  Lord,  at  twenty  years  of  age, 
under  the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  House,  a  missionary 
of  the  American  Foreign  Mission  Board.  Shortly  after 
his  conversion  our  brother  entered  the  missionary  ochool 
at  Samakov,  a  few  hours'  journey  from  the  capital  Sofia. 
Graduating  from  Samakov,  Peter  DoychetT  crossed  tho 
Atlantic,  and  commenced  to  study  m  the  Baptist  college 
at  Hightstown,  N.  J.,  where  he  specialized  in  the  sciences. 
He  remained  here  three  years,  and  then  entered  Prince- 
ton Theological  Seminary,  and  passed  from  thence  to 
the  McCormick  University  of  Chicago,  where  he  took  all 
the  classes  common  to  theological  students  save  that  in 
Hebrew.  Opportunities  for  sendee  in  the  States  were 
pressed  upon  him,  but  he  heard  the  call  of  hi?  own  land, 
and  returned  to  the  Balkans  to  work  amongst  his  own 
people.  In  1901  he  was  convinced  of  the  truth  of  be- 
lievers' baptism,  and  was  baptized  by  the  Rev.  R.  E. 
Ferrier,  of  Poughkeepsie,  New  York.  July  1902,  saw 
the  commencement  of  his  work  as  a  pioneer  Bulgarian 
Baptist  to  the  Bulgarians.  He  chose  Tchirpan,  a  central 
town,  in  which  to  commence  operations,  and  in  thi5 
venture  he  had  no  missionary  societ3^  behind  him,  no 


190  MODERN  BAPTIST 

fixed  salary,  not  even  a  congregation  to  stand  by  'his  side, 
but  alone  he  launched  out  into  the  deep,  in  the  sure  faith 
that  the  Lord  would  provide  for  his  needs.  Even  today 
he  has  no  fixed  stipend.  Friends  in  America,  who  know 
him  and  value  his  work,  and  our  own  good  friend,  Mr. 
Oncken,  of  England,  have  been  able  to  help  occasionally 
but  ofttimes  the  bottom  of  the  barrel  has  had  to  be 
scraped,  yet  through  all  our  brother  bears  this  testimony, 
•'Hitherto  the  Lord  hath  helped  me."  During  the  eight 
years  in  which  Peter  Doycheff  has  been  working  in 
Tchirpan,  he  has  baptized  fifty-seven  upon  profession  of 
faith,  whilst  others  are  awaiting  baptism  in  the  town.  A 
chapel  has  been  built,  and  several  mission  stations 
established. 

This  autumn  work  has  been  undertaken  in  Kostenetz. 
and  a  recent  visit  to  Soha  has  resulted  in  groat  blessing 
to  the  friends  there,  in  that  a  serious  division  has  been 
healed,  and  unity  of  forces  has  been  accomplished.  As 
funds  permit,  Brother  Doycheff  intends  to  open  new 
stations  at  Stara  Zagora,  Novo  Zagora,  and  Borisovgrad. 

At  the  present  time  three  young  men  who  have  been 
brought  up  under  his  influence  are  being  trained  for, 
the  ministry  of  the  Word  in  Bulgaria.  His  only  5»on. 
Jupiter,  is  a  brilliant  scholar,  the  first  student  of  his 
year  in  Samakov  college,  and  both  father  and  son  are 
looking  forward  to  the  time  when  the  proposed  Oonti- 
nential  Baptist  World  Alliance  Theological  Seminar^' 
dhall  become  an  established  fact. 

Doycheff  frequently  undertakes  long  journe}^  to  dis- 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  191 

tant  tcm^ns  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  it  is  nothing  un- 
usual for  him  to  suffer  persecution,  bitter  and  violent 
opposition  upon  the  part  of  the  priests  and  police,  and 
even  to  learn  to  take  the  despoiUng  of  his  goods  cheer- 
fully. His  wife,  a  worthy  and  faithful  fellow  worker, 
often  accompanies  him  on  his  preaching  tours  and  ?^he 
has  proven  her  endurance  as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Despite  this  attempt  of  the  enemy  to  deter  him 
he  has  kept  steadily  on  his  way,  cheered  in  heart  by 
many  conversions,  by  the  steady  growth  of  the  work 
under  his  wise  leadership,  and  confident  in  the  assurance 
that  ultimately  Bulgaria  will  be  led  to  the  feet  of  Jesua 
Christ. 

NORBERT  FABIAN  CAPEC,  MORAVIA. 

The  Baptist  w^ork  in  Mora^da  is  led  by  a  man  who  is 
in  the  truest  sense  of  the  w^ord  a  whole-hearted  patriot, 
ardently  longing  for  the  political  freedom  of  his  country, 
but  at  the  same  time  burning  with  an  unquenchable  zeal 
and  pas^on.  for  the  salvation  of  his  fellow  citizens.  Nor- 
bert  Fabian  Cap<3c  is  in  the  very  prime  of  life.  He  was 
born  in  the  memorable  year  1870,  at  Radcmysl,  in 
Bohemia.  In  his  veins  flow^s  the  blood  of  the  martyrs, 
for  his  forbears  w^ere  adherents  of  John  Huss,  and  were 
called  upon  to  seal  their  testimony  to  Christ  by  im- 
pri.sonment  'and  finally  martyrdom.  Under  the  long  con- 
tinued persecutions,  and  the  tremendous  pressure  of  the 
papacy,  the  family  became   Roman    Catholic,    but   the 


192  MODERN  BAPTIST 

tradition  of  a  better  and  purer  faith  still  lived  on,  and 
through  the  years  of  darkness  there  was  a  love  and  long- 
ing for  the  Word  of  God. 

At  sixteen  years  of  age  Capec's  soul  revolted  against 
the  many  evils  incidental  to  the  Romanis-t  system,  and 
he  definitely  severed  his  connection  with  the  Church.  He 
was  not  aware  of  any  other  churches  when  he  set  out 
in  quest  of  truth.  At  last  he  found  himself  in  Vienna, 
where  a  companion  invited  him  to  a  prayer  meeting  in 
the  hall  of  the  Baptists. 

The  strange  name  "Baptist"  was  a  hindrance  to  him, 
but  on  learning  that  they  were  nearly  akin  in  their 
principles  and  practices  to  the  old  Bohemian  Brethren, 
and  that  they  based  their  doctrines  upon  the  Word  of 
God,  he  ventured  to  the  meeting.  His  heart  was  touched 
by  that  which  he  heard  and  experienced  there,  and  the 
result  was  a  surrender  of  life  to  Jesus  Christ  and  the 
acceptance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  his  guide.  The  struggle 
was  a  severe  one,  but  at  last  grace  triumphed,  and  on 
March  3,  1888,  he  was  baptized  in  Vienna  upon  pro- 
fession of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  was  immediately 
admitted  to  the  church  fellowship.  Later  in  the  year 
he  went  to  Pozsony,  a  frontier  town  in  Hungary,  and 
commenced  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  Slovacs,  with  the 
result  that  in  less  than  three  years  he  baptized  more  than 
seventy  believers.  During  these  three  years  he  started 
a  mission  station  in  Chojnice.  The  work  was  blessed,  a 
church  was  formed,  and  a  building  erected,  in  which 
the  congi'egation  met  for  worship.    These  days  were  try- 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  193 

ing  ones  to  the  young  man's  faith.  Oftentimes  he  was 
in  dire  straits,  and  on  more  than  one  occasion  had  not 
even  a  Kreutzer  (one-fifth  of  a  penny),  with  which  to 
puTdhase  a  glass  of  water  by  the  wayside. 

The  year  1891  saiw  his  entrance  into  the  Baptist  col- 
lege in  Hamburg,  and  during  the  succeeding  k)uv  year:.^ 
he  was  preparing  himself  for  what  is  undoubtedly  hi<i 
life's  wK)rk.  Finishing  his  course  he  accepted  the  pas 
torate  of  the  largest  Baptist  church  in  Saxony,  in  the 
tow^n  of  Planitz. 

Again  and  again  the  great  need  of  his  own  land  was 
impressed  upon  him.  He  could  not  quietly  minister 
to  an  alien  people  whilst  his  fellow-countrymen  had  noi 
the  light  of  the  glorious  Gospel,  and  in  the  year  1S98 
the  great  resolve  was  taken  to  go  to  his  own  people. 
Moravia  at  that  time  had  not  a  single  congregation  of 
any  denomination,  apart  from  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  but  Capec  bravely  entered  into  the  capital 
(Brunn),  and  commenced  to  preach  the  Gospel.  The 
early  days  were  exceedingly  difficult.  Priests  and  police 
harassed  him,  all  manner  of  obstacles  were  placed  in  his 
way,  but  he  believed  that  he  was  led  by  the  Spirit  of 
God  to  labor  there,  and  continued  the  struggle.  During 
the  first  three  months  he  only  managed  to  make  one 
friend.  After  the  first  year's  work  the  tide  turned,  and 
many  began  to  attend  the  services,  with  the  result  that 
during  his  ten  years'  ministry  in  Moravia  he  has  bap- 
tized more  than  five  hundred  behevers,  has  established 
five  churches,  and  has  a  number  of  stations  in  many  of 


194  MODERN  BAPTIST 

the  chief  cities  of  the  kingdbm.  At  present  he  is  in 
charge  of  all  this  work,  and  in  addition  to  his  pastoral 
labors  he  is  editor  of  the  largest  weekly  paper  pu})lished 
in  Bohemia,  an  adjoining  state  on  the  north,  and  of  t'wo 
^ery  popular  rehgious  m'agazines. 

He  has  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer,  and  has  flooded  tho 
country  with  small  and  large  pamphlets  setting  forth 
the  B'aptist  position,  faith  aind  prmciples. 

His  hymns  are  in  use  today  in  all  the  Bohemian  Bap- 
tist churches,  and  are  being  sung  in  Hungary,  Russia, 
and  far  off  America.  By  his  editorial  work,  public  meet- 
ings and  preaching  services  he  has  done  more  than  any 
living  man  to  prepare  Moravia  to  receive  the  Baptist 
faith.  His  work  has  influenced  the  secular  press,  and 
frequently  articles  from  him  aj)poar  in  the  daily  news- 
papers advocating  the  separation  of  Church  and  state,  ex- 
posmg  the  sacerdotal  spirit  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  against  \he  baptism  of  unconscious  infants,  ad- 
vocating the  freedom  of  the  individual  to  worship  God 
without  the  intervention  of  the  priest  or  prelate.  Re- 
cently an  article  of  his  appeared  in  n  leading  paper  argu- 
ing that  the  time  was  more  than  ripe  for  a  new  reforma- 
tion in  Moravia,  as  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  was  not 
fitted  to  meet  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  great  Slav  popu- 
lation. 

Chas.  T.  Byford^  London,  England. 


BOHEMIA. 
STORIES  AND  THE  NEW  REFORMATION. 

Two  girls  were  living  in  a  little  village  in  Bohemia. 
The}^  somehow  got  a  New  Testament.  They  read  in  it 
and  soon  saw  that  the  church  at  home  was  no  Christian 
church.  They  were  soon  converted  and  they  lived  a 
happy  life.  But  they  thought  they  had  discovered  some 
forgotten  treasure — that  they  were  the  only  two  Christ- 
ians in  the  whole  world.  The  village  soon  was  against 
them.  They  were  proclaimed  to  be  mad.  Darkness  could 
not  stand  the  light.  Once  one  of  these  girls  went  to 
Prague  and  she  found  a  converted  woman,  as  she  recog- 
nized from  her  conversation.  She  was  very  happy, 
more  than  she  could  say,  and  then  she  exclaimed:  ''But 
tell  me,  w^hy  are  w^e  on  the  vast  world  the  only  three 
Christians?"  ''What  do  you  mean  by  that?"  "Well," 
said  the  girl,  "now^  we  are  two  in  our  village  and  you  are 
the  third  Christian!"  "Oh,  no;  there  are  m'any  millions 
of  Christians  like  you  and  me  in  the  world."  The  girl 
could  not  understand  and  only  by  and  by,  and  then  she 
said:  "And  did  you  see  them,  did  you  speak  with 
them?"  "Yes,  land  if  you  like,  you  can  see  them  and 
speak  to  them  tonight."     That  night  she  was  for  the 


196  MODERN  BAPTIST 

first  time  in  her  life  in  a  Christian  meeting.  Even  today 
she  says  that  was  her  most  happy  moment,  when  she  dis- 
covered the  existence  of  more  than  three  Christians  in 
the  world.  Both  the  girls  are  today  Baptists.  One  of 
them  is  still  a  member  of  our  church.  So  works  our  Goji 
sometimes  without  missionaries. 

Returning  from  the  Baptist  World  Alliance,  Phila- 
delphia, my  first  meeting  w^as  a  baptismal  service.  There 
was  a  lad  of  about  eighteen  years,  who  had  become  con- 
verted, and  he  wanted  to  be  baptized.  When  we  an- 
nounced, according  to  the  law,  to  the  authorities  they 
sent  a  message  to  his  native  village  to  the  priest  (they 
regularly  do  -th^t).  The  priest  put  this  letter  on  the 
door  of  the  church,  in  order  that  all  the  people  might 
know  it.  When  the  boy  came  home,  there  was  a  real 
trouble.  He  was  beaten  on  his  face.  Then  they  brought 
him  to  the  priest,  who  had  ready  an  explanation,  that  the 
boy  was  sorry,  and  that  he  had  come  back  to  the  Rom- 
an Catholic  Church.  He  had  a  ^'discussion''  with  the 
boy  far  about  two  hours  and  tried  in  every  way  to  per- 
suade him — ^but  that  did  not  help.  The  priest  said  that 
he  ought  to  obey  his  parents.  The  boy  ans:wered  that  he, 
too,  believes  in  oibedience,  but  he  quoted  the  verse, 
Matt.  10:37:  "He  that  loveth  father  or  mother  more 
than  me  is  not  worthy  of  me."  The  boy  had  always 
ready  a  biblical  verse.  The  priest  said  afterwards:  '^I  can- 
not understand  it;  he  is  only  a  few  days  a  Baptist  and 
he  knows  the  Bible  better  than  our  people."  Then, 
when  nothing  would  help,  the  father  went  to  the  author- 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  197 

ities  and  asked  if  it  were  possible  to  destroy  all  the  ties 
between  the  boy  and  the  family.  The  authorities  didj 
not  allow  that,  as  that  is  against  the  law.  The  parents 
then  cast  him  out  from  their  home  and  would  have 
nothing  to  do  with  him.  He  came  to  Prague  to  seek  a 
situation  and  wrote  home  a  loving  letter  to  the  parents, 
but  they  did  not  answer. 

We  have  a  mission  station  in  the  mountains  at  a 
place  where  the  anti-reformation  was  strong.  In  this  part 
of  Bohemia  the  priests  (after  the  terrible  'battle  on  the 
White  mountain)  were  not  only  themselves  ''holy"  but 
even  their  boots  were  ''holy".  They  had  on  their  boots 
very  sharp  nails  and  they  went  to  t'he  fields  where  the 
people  were  ploughing  and  working  and  they  trampled 
with  their  "holy"  boots  upon  the  people's  bare  feet,  to 
"persuade"  them  to  confess  where  they  held  in  secret 
their  meetings  and  hid  their  books. 

In  the  same  part  of  Bohemia  the  Bible  was  proclaim- 
ed from  the  pulpit  of  the  Catholic  Church  to  be  a 
"poison."  Nobody  ought  to  touch  it,  of  course,  nor  to 
read  it.  The  castleans  were  a  great  help  for  the  priests 
at  that  time.  One  castlean  went  to  a  village  to  seek 
"the  poisoned  books"  and  he  found  one.  After  a  fight 
with  t'he  old  man  to  whom  it  belonged,  the  castlean  got 
the  Bible.  He  put  it  under  his  arm  and  went  merrily 
home  to  bring  it  to  the  priest  to  burn.  On  his  way  he 
remembered  the  last  sermon  of  his  priest,  that  the  Bible 
is  "poison"  and  that  nobody  ought  to  read  it.  At  once 
he  threw  the  Bible  on  the  ground  in  order  that  he 


198  MODERN  BAPTIST 

might  not  be  poisoned.  But  tlien  he  did  not  wish  that 
anybody  should  find  it  and  especially  a  ^^heretic."  He 
was  in  a  little  difficulty.  After  a  short  hesitation  he 
chained  the  Bible  and  dragged  it  with  him  as  a  dog. 
The  priest  was  very  pleased  with  his  original  thought, 
and  the  Bible  w^as  burned  on  the  chief  place  in  that 
town. 

In  this  same  town  today  we  have  twenty-five  prom- 
ising Baptists.  They  have  their  own  little  house  and 
their  meetings  on  Sundays  are  visited  not  seldom  by 
one  hundred  people.  In  the  same  town  today  the  priest 
says  from  the  pulpit  that  his  sheep  ought  to  be  as  good 
as  the  Baptists;  they  ought  to  (the  priest  says)  ''be  an 
example  for  the  Catholics". 

In  the  .>^am'e  town  an  advocate  at  the  bar  was  seek- 
ing a  clerk.  He  announced  his  need  in  the  newspaper 
and  he  got  about  two  hundred  applications.  There  was 
only  one  difficulty:  he  often  left  the  office,  where  he 
kept  some  money,  and  he  wanted  that  the  clerk  should 
also  attend  to  the  business  when  he  was  away.  He  did 
not  trust  the  Catholics.  In  the  whole  town  the  people 
know  that  the  Baptists  do  not  lie,  do  not  steal,  and  are 
true.  So  he  .wanted  a  Baptist.  There  was  one  young  man 
(our  member)  with  very  little  education,  professionally, 
but  he  was  a  clever  boy — and  he  got  the  situation 
and  without  asking  for  it,  only  because  he  was  a  Bap- 
tist. 

A  married  woman  told  her  husband  that  she  wante<i 
to  be  baptized.     He  showed  her  a  revolver    and    said, 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  199 

"This  will  help."  She  was  obliged  to  wait  nine  years. 
At  last  she  seized  upon  a  happy  moment  and  was  per- 
mitted to  be  baptized.  It  was  on  her  birthday,  when  the 
husband  was  exceptionally  kind.  He  came  to  her  and 
asked  what  she  would  like  to  have  as  a  birthday  pres- 
ent. She  fell  on  his  neck  with  tears  and  asked  for  per- 
mission to  be  baptized.  He  could  not  resist,  and  the 
long-waited-for  consent  was  given. 

In  one  town  are  barracks.  Somehow  some  of  the 
soldiers  heaixl  about  the  Baptists,  and  they  got  our 
paper.  One  of  them  wrote  to  us.  He  said  they  liked  our 
religion,  as  they  saw  we  were  like  the  old  Bohemian 
Brethren,  and  they  wanted  to  be  Baptists,  eleven  of 
them.  He  said  we  ought  to  write  to  them,  and  he  asked 
how  much  it  would  cost  to  be  a  Baptist — how  much 
money !  With  our  love  we  sent  them  some  New  Testa- 
ments, papers  and  hymn  books — they  now  have  their 
meetings  in  the  woods. 

THE   OUTLOOK. 

The  pope  never  trusted  his  sheep  in  Bohemia;  and 
because  he  feared  and  hesitated  he  may  at  last  lose  them 
all.  He  granted  them  at  the  start  their  wishes,  viz., 
preaching  the  Gospel  in  the  national  language,  the  mar- 
riage of  the  priests  and  the  New  Testament  Lord's  Sup- 
per. They  always  protested  against  Romish  abuses  and 
men  like  Huss  and  Jerome  laid  down  their  lives  for 
being  too  radically  'Trotestant".    The  oldest  Bohemian 


200  MODERN  BAPTIST 

song  is   a  Christmas   carol   from,  the   ninth    century, 
which  we  sing  today  in  our  services. 

But  the  Cechs  (the  popular  name  for  the  Bohe- 
mians), with  all  their  ideals,  were  silenced  by  a  great 
sea  of  darkness.  Bohemia  was  a  little  country  surround- 
ed by  such  vast  empires,  which  had  not  the  slightest  in- 
terest in  their  ideals.  Bohemia's  ideals  came  too  soon. 
Their  message  was  bom  one  hundred  years  too  soon; 
the  world  was  not  prepared  for  it.  The  German-Austrian 
army  made  out  of  a  Cechish  Protestant  country  a  Ger- 
man Catholic  country.  They  took  away  our  religion  a3 
well  as  our  national  freedom.  Here  is  the  only  psycho- 
logical explanation — ^^^hy  every  Cech  is  born  with  a  hate 
for  everything  that  is  German — even  for  German  Pro- 
testantism. 

Today  the  Cechish  nation  is  rising.  The  historians 
agree  that  during  the  last  hundred  years  the  Cechish  na- 
tion m*ade  progress  that  is  almost  a  miracle.  (See  Mon- 
roe, ''Bohemia  and  the  Cechs".)  If  you  only  think  for 
a  moment  that  one  hundred  years  ago  there  was  almost 
not  a  single  Cechish  book,  that  Prague  was  almost  only  a 
German  city,  that  almost  no  intelligent  Cech  spoke  Cech- 
ish— today :  Prague  is  a  modern  city  of  six  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  people,  ninety-seven  per  cent,  of  them 
Cechs.  We  have  a  good  literature,  scientific  as  well  as 
poetical  works  and  many  books  of  fiction ;  we  have  good 
translations  not  only  of  all  the  great  English  and  Amer- 
ican authors  but  of  all  great  books  of  the  world ;  we  have 
an  independent  university.    All  this  is  a  miracle  I 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  201 

But  the  Cechs  are  a  religious  nation  and  this  is  clear 
in  their  resurrection.  They  start  to  live  again  and  they 
see  they  must  first  settle  the  religious  problem.  And 
they  try.  All  our  big  men,  poets,  scientists,  statesmen, 
take  an  interest  in  religious  matters.  Out  of  one  hundred 
and  seven  Cechish  members  of  Parliament  only  seven 
are  representatives  of  Rome! 

Here  is  a  country  full  of  living  Christianity  hs  -an 
accumulator  is  full  of  electricity,  and  the  \Vhole  history 
of  Bohemia  is  only  the  bursting  of  this  electricity  from 
time  to  time. 

The  Cechs  are  a  religious  nation  through  and  through. 
When  Christianity  was  brought  to  them  from  Germany 
they  did  not  at  first  want  to  accepyt  it,  because  it  was 
brought  with  sword  and  fire — they  understood  at  once; 
here  are  words  in  contrast  with  deeds.  But  when  they 
read  the  Gospel  for  themselves  and  heard  it  preached  by 
such  men  as  Cyril  and  Methodius,  they  accepted  it  with 
enthusiasm.  They  distinguished  themselves  especially 
by  loving  the  family  life— a  fact  found  of  true  Christ- 
ianity. This  fact  is  very  interesting  and  has  a  psycholog- 
ical necessity  in  our  language.  The  beauty  of  our  lan- 
guage is  in  diminutives,  especially  in  nouns  connected 
with  the  family.  I  am  not  sure  if  any  other  language  in 
the  world  possesses  this  richness  of  synonyms.  I  find 
about  five  different  terms  for  father,  about  twenty  for 
girl — every  term  conveys  a  little  different  idea. 

We  all  agree  that  in  four  years,  the  five  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  death  of  John  Huss,  1915,  there  will 


202  MODERN  BAPTIST 

be  a  final  settlement — the  Cechs  will  choose  not  for  Ca- 
tholicism, but  between  atheism  and  Christianity!  We 
hope  and  believe  they  will  choose  Jesus,  and  then  oui 
Cechish  history  will  be  interrupted  never  more! 

The  Baptists  are  founded  in  history  upon  the  Bo- 
hemian Brethren,  and  this  historical  foundation  is  a 
great  '^plus"  for  the  Baptists  among  our  people.  Bap- 
tismus  could  at  once  be  the  national  religion  of  the 
Cechs.  All  the  conditions  necessary  for  its  mastering 
growth  are  here. 

Bohemia  and  Moravia,  so  closely  linked  together  in 
history  and  sympathy,  are  going  again  to  be  Cechish — 
this  is  sure,  and  Christ  will  be  our  only  Lord  and 
King. 

Joseph  Novotxy, 
Peague,  Bohemia. 


A  COSSACK  TRANSFIGURED. 

"Now  that  I  have  recovered  from  the  gruelHng  thrills 
of  the  Baptist  Alliance  held  in  Philadelphia  several 
months  ago  and  find  myself  once  more  in  normal  shape, 
I  find  myself  possessed  by  a  strong  impulse  to  pay  in 
my  own  way  my  tribute  of  admiration  and  reverence 
to  the  modest  and  yet  incomparable  hero  of  that  occa- 
sion. Giants  there  were,  many  and  mighty  in  that  inter- 
national assemblage — men,  great  in  achievement  and 
fame  and  destined  to  live  in  history.  To  them  I  wave 
my  good  wishes,  but  for  once  they  must  retire  from  the 
limelight  and  give  the  front  of  the  stage  to  an  untitled 
and  scarred  brother,  in  order  that  his  friends  and  lovers 
may  get  an  ample  sight  of  him  and  catch  somewhat 
of  his  intrepid  and  self-forgetful  spirit. 

The  Philadelphia  meeting  was  enriched  with  varied 
joys — joys  so  intense  and  over-mastering  that  they  were 
close  akin  to  agonies.  There  eloquence  and  wisdom  met 
together,  and  their  united  strain  was  like  a  voice  from 
Heaven;  there  big  men  abounded  until  they  were  a 
common  sight;  there  comparisons  ceased  to  be  odious 
and  grew  into  honorable  dispute  about  the  stars  only  in 
the  point  of  their  differing  in  their  glories ;  there  many 
talked  as  to  who  should  be  the  greatest  among  them, 


204  MODERN  BAPTIST 

but  few  indeed  seemed  for  a  moment  to  be  thinking  at 
all  of  themselves. 

In  my  little  perch  near  the  organ  back  of  the 
pulpit,  I  watched  it  all  and  weighed  everything  as  well 
as  I  might,  but  for  reasons  which  may  appear  later  on 

I  ELECTED  MY  HEART's  HERO. 

I  ami  asking  now  in  this  paper  to  have  him 
enrolled  as  chief  among  the  mighty.  Think  not  that 
mine  is  a  case  of  favoritism  or  of  pre-judgment. 
Right  freely  I  admit  that  in  my  narrowed  life  I  knew 
nothing  of  a  man  bearing  the  name  of  Fedot  Petro- 
vitch  Kostromin. 

Perchance  I  publish  my  own  reproach  in  blurt- 
ing out  this  admission,  but  let  it  go  at  that.  It  was  on 
that  Thursday  morning  when  that  grim-faced  procession 
of  Russians  emerged  from  the  audience  and  mustered 
into  the  organ  gallery,  that  I  gained  my  first  view  of  the 
man  whose  worth  and  honor  this  paper  is  intended  to 
celebrate. 

My  first  sight  of  him  was  a  revelation;  his  serious 
face  was  his  biography  and  his  voice  spoke  nothing  that 
I  understood  and  yet  in  some  way  they  told  me  of 
sorrows  which  could  never  be  fully  told.  He  had  the 
look  of  a  martyr,  who  as  yet  had  no  sense  of  being  one. 
As  a  fact  our  Russian  brother  broke  in  upon  us  ip  no 
conspicuous  way;  indeed,  he  limped  in  as  one  who  has 
almost  forgotten  himself.   Already  the  Russian  exhibit, 


FEDOT    PETROVITCH   KOSTROMIX. 


(205) 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  207 

if  w6  may  speak  of  it  as  such,  under  the  high-strung 
and  magnetic  Shakespeare  had  already  filled  us  with 
an  over-flowing  wonder.  For  my  part  I  thought  that  the 
strain  w^as  about  over  and  was  preparing  to  take  my 
breath  and  cool  down.  It  did  not  stir  me  when  a 
snowy-haired  patriot  with  noiseless  feet  strode  down 
from  the  gallery  to  the  platform,  nor  can  it  be  said 
that  this  old  gentleman  was  presented  with  any  special  in- 
tent to  create  sensation.  For  my  own  part  I  am  a  little 
lost  to  know  how  it  all  happened.  Fact  after  fact 
dropped  out  concerning  the  man  and  each  fact  was  like 
a  pearl  and  all  the  facts  together  made  a  wondrous 
string  of  pearls  and  before  we  knew  it  we  were  trans- 
fixed with  the  conviction  that  there  was  before  us  one 
of  God's  great  men. 

To  begin  with  it  fell  out  that  this  old  gentleman, 
so  quiet  and  unassuming,  was  a  Russian  Cossack  and 
that  of  course  marked  him  as  tough  of  texture,  born 
to  fight  and  trained  to  die  rather  than  to  run  away. 

These  attributes  were  chiseled  into  the  old  face 
and  the  face  was  so  fine  and  even  lovely  that  I  right 
on  the  spot,  recast  several  of  my  old  notions  of  the 
Cossacks  and  almost  felt  willing  to  be  one  if  I  could 
only  be  of  the  Ko^tromin  type. 

It  added  much  to  the  charm  of  the  moment  when 
the  fact  came  out  that  this  gnarled  old  Russian  had 
once  been  a  fanatical  adherent  of  the  Greek  Church  and 
that,  too,  of  the  most  destructive  and  intolerant  sort. 
In  those  days   he  had  a  religion  which   delighted  to 


208  MODERN   BAPTIST 

extinguish  the  other  man,  who  thought  not  as  he  did. 
He  found  in  the  Baptists  of  his  country  the  very  objects 
which  his  crueUy  could  find  the  fiercest  joy  in  crush- 
ing and  destroying.  He  looked  like  a  lion  that  was  once 
wild  and  eager  for  blood,  but  had  been  tamed  for  domes- 
tic service,  but  you  could  recognize  his  type  at  once, 
his  zeal  was  that  of  the  bigot  and  would  have  hailed 
Saul  of  Tarsus  as  a  comrade  in  playing  havoc  w^th  the 
friends  of  the  Nazarene.  It  was  hard  to  tell  it  on  Kos- 
tromin,  but  the  fact  came  out  that  he  was  once  a  des- 
perate foe  of  his  Russian  brethren.  He  had  that  blind 
and  vindictive  sincerity  which  he  mistook  for  religion 
and  which  caused  him  to  feel  that  the  way  to  please 
God  was  to  extinguish  those  w^ho  did  not  believ3  as 
he  did.  I  took  a  cold  look  at  the  old  man  and  felt 
a  momentary  resentment. 

But  very  soon  I  came  to  myself.  I  recalled  that  his- 
tory brings  to  us  ample  proof  that  the  Lord  takes  an 
economic  interest  in  men  who  are  notably  effective  in 
trying  to  overturn  the  truth.  He  sees  in  them  a  nerve 
and  a  vigor  w^hich  if  seasoned  w^ith  his  own  grace  would 
do  much  to  help  His  own  Kingdom.  It  is  no  rare  thing 
for  the  Spirit  of  God  to  invade  the  domain  of  Satan 
and  choose  some  of  his  stalwart  leaders  and  bring  them 
over  for  service  in  the  Kingdom  of  Light.  That  w^as 
the  w^ay  that  Paul  was  brought  in  and  we  found  out  that 
same  Thursday  that  Kostromin  was  also  brought  in  that 
way.  I  am  yet  short  of  information  about  many  things 
that  I  would  like  to  know  about  the  turning  of  Kos- 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  209 

tromin  to  God.  Any  one  must  see  at  a  glance  that  it  was 
a  startling  event.  It  was  life  from  the  dead  for  Kostro- 
min  and  it  was  a  miracle  from  Heaven  in  the  eyes  of 
saints  and  infidels  who  saw  the  sight. 

There  was  one  fact  about  it  well  worth  the  telling. 
Our  brother  was  brought  to  the  Light  by  a  Russian^ 
Baptist  minister,  by  the  name  of  Ivanoff,  of  whom  we 
read  in  another  place  in  this  volume.  "We  may  be  sure 
that  Kostromin  will  never  forget  in  this  world  or  the 
other  the  man  who  brought  him  to  Christ  and  truly  there 
must  have  been  mighty  shouting  in  the  forest  hiding 
places  of  the  Russian  Baptists  when  the  tall  son  of  perse- 
cution was  cut  down  and  lay  trembling  at  the  foot  of 
the  cross. 

As  for  Kostromin's  conversion,  no  man  could  look 
into  his  face  and  doubt.  In  every  line  of  his  counte- 
nance-the  new^s  of  salvation  was  distinctly  written  and 
they  who  saw  him  knew  him  in  Christ  Jesus  and  felt 
afresh  the  might  and  sweetness  of  redeeming  love. 

NO    NOVICE XO   RAW    RECRUIT. 

Americans  who  saw  Kostromin  in  Philadelphia  saw 
no  novice — no  raw  recruit  in  the  ''King's  guard".  He 
was  not  converted  until  he  was  forty  and  that  was  over 
a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  He  is  now  a  veteran  ap- 
proved by  ser\'ice  and  a  full  graduate  in  the  high  school 
of  suffering.  We  have  sometimes  been  too  fast  in  parad- 
ing the  unseasoned  products  of  our  missionary  achieve- 


210  .         MODERN  BAPTIST 

ments  and  sometimes  we  have  been  put  to  shame  by  the 
results,  but  we  can  have  no  reason  for  doubt  on  that 
score  in  the  case  of  Ivanoff's  illustrious  trophy.  We 
must  take  a  little  while  to  unveil  the  trials  to  which 
this  man  of  God  has  been  subjected.  Possibly  no  Chris- 
tian on  the  earth  today  has  had  so  miany  adverse  expe- 
riences or  has  been  subjected  to  such  harassing  and 
appalling  persecution.  His  espousal  of  the  Baptist  faith 
has  brought  upon  him  troubles  in  almost  every  form.  He 
was  never  rich  but  he  had  some  property — a  precious 
substance  with  which  to  nourish  his  life  and  to  take  care 
of  his  household. 

Not  long  after  his  conversion  he  found  that  he 
must  give  up  his  ministry  or  his  money.  His  money 
was  to  him  the  world  and  the  issue  was  between  the 
world  and  his  Lord.  He  counted  it  a  light  thing  to  suf- 
fer the  loss  of  all  things  for  Him  who  brought  to  him 
eternal  life.  The  fact  of  this  sacrifice  was  let  out  at 
Philadelphia  and  if  the  baskets  had  gone  the  rounds 
of  the  assemblage,  Kostromin  would  have  heen  no  long- 
er  poor. 

As  our  brother  at  the  first  persecuted,  so  afterwards 
he  became  the  target  for  the  poisoned  arrows  of  those 
'jWith  whom  he  had  been  a  comrade  in  the  old  days.  He 
was  too  mighty  a  man  to  go  free  as  a  Baptist  and  his 
early  ministry  caused  grave  trouble  in  the  ranks  of  the 
wicked.  At  first  they  muttered,  then  they  scowled,  then 
they  threatened,  then  they  hauled  him  to  court  and  then 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  211 

they  covered  him  with  chains  and  condemned  him  to 
Siberian  prisons. 

Of  that  imprisonment  it  is  well-nigh  impossible  to 
speak  with  composure.  The  horrors  of  it  defy  human 
words  to  tell  the  story.  It  lasted  for  sixteen  years;  it  sep- 
arated him  absolutely  from  his  family  and  foi^ade 
every  item  of  communication.  Indeed,  the  miembers 
of  his  hou^hold  were  torn  apart  and  scattered  afar  lest  by 
some  chance  they  should  get  together.  He  was  made 
the  companion  of  the  most  dasperate  of  the  criminal 
classes.  No  friend  or  lover  was  allowed  to  \dsit  or  even 
to  write  to  him.  He  was  practioally  dead  to  all  that  made 
life  sweet  and  desirable  to  him.  xill  that  was  left  to  him 
w^as  to  praise  his  Redeemer  with  the  rattling  of  his 
chains,  to  glory  in  suffering  for  his  Lord  and  to  bear 
brave  testimony  to  the  power  of  the  Gospel  to  make  life 
worth  living  when  every  human  comfort  was  taken  away 
from  it.  To  all  of  his  graver  sufferings  w^as  added  the 
continual  annoyance  and  hostilities  of  the  guards.  For 
each  day  he  was  dragged  up  for  exam&nation  and  humili- 
ated in  all  possible  ways ;  not  that  he  had  done  anything 
wrong,  and  not  that  he  meditated  revolt  or  escape.  His 
only  crime  was  his  faith  in  God  and  his  only  misde- 
meanor was  his  refusal  to  recant  his  Christian  doctrines. 

As  time  lagged  along  his  foes  hit  on  new  experiences 
for  weaning  him  away  from  his  Baptist  faith.  When 
force  failed  they  tried  the  charm  of  gcM.  They  sought 
to  catch  him  with  a  bribe.  Did  they  do  it?  Would  the 
hope  of  liberty  or  the  sight  of  money    move   him   to 


212  MODERN  BAPTIST 

deny  his  faith?  Wrong  him  not  by  such  a  thought.  He 
was  not  made  of  corruptible  stuff.  It  was  morally  im- 
possible for  a  soul  so  lofty  as  his.  He  stood  clear,  loyal, 
taintless  beifore  his  enemies  and  gave  a  lie  to  that 
meanest  of  human  taunts,  that  everv^  man  has  his  price. 

And  this  is  not  claiming  that  Kostromin  was  perfect, 
he  was  not  beyond  the  possibility  of  eYii;  he  had  his 
seasons  of  depression,  his  faith  was  capable  of  strain. 
He  said  once  that  he  often  thought  of  John  the  Baptist 
as  he  lay  in  his  cell  in  Fort  ^lachoerus  on  the  Galilean 
border.  He  thought  of  those  alien  and  chilling  doubts  of 
John,  when  he  sent  those  messengers  to  Jesus  to  in- 
quire as  to  who  He  was.  Little  doubt  can  there  be  that 
he  thought  too  of  John's  apparently  unsuccessful  life 
and  inglorious  end.  There  was  a  broad  margin  there 
for  Kostromin's  hard  thinking,  his  wonderment  and  his 
apprehension.     Might  he  not  have  fallen? 

Ah!  but  he  did  not  fall.  And  why?  Because  his 
dominant  mood  was  fully  for  his  Master.  He  kept  his 
eyes  upward;  he  took  counsel  with  the  invisible  and 
eternal,  he  endured  as  one  who  saw  God.  Of  all  this 
we  have  a  refreshing  example.  His  lot  was  cast  with  the 
very  scum  and  fdth  of  the  prison.  He  saw  in  the  situation 
an  opportunity ;  he  saw  in  squalid  creatures  around  him 
his  needy  brothers;  he  knew  that  he  had  in  his  Christ- 
ian faith  what  these  people  needed  and  right  there  he 
kindled  the  lamps  of  eternal  hope  and  illumined  the 
prison  with  the  light  of  everlasting  life.  He  held  a 
revival  in  the  Siberian  pens  and  saw  more  than  a  half 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  213 

hundred  comrades  in  sorrow  transformed  into  prisoners 
of  hope.  He  founded  a  church  in  the  precincts  of 
human  woe  and  sang  the  songs  of  Zion  in  the  tenements 
of  despair. 

BROKEN  AND  BANISHED. 

But  meanwhile  an  unseen  hand  was  guarding  the 
Hfe  of  this  unflinching  lover  of  the  truth  in  a  way 
which  he  knew  not  and  in  no  small  part  by  the  miracle 
of  his  own  incorruptible  life.  An  earthly  future  was 
being  built  for  himself.  The  eye  of  God  peered  into  the 
pit  where  His  sei-vant  lay  and  pitied  him.  A  change 
in  his  favor  was  decreed  but  he  knew  it  not  and  could 
never  have  known  the  strange  way  in  which  it  was  to 
come.  He  fell  sick  and  what  was  that  to  anyone  in 
that  prison.  Glad  enough  his  keepers  would  have  been 
to  bury  him  in  a  shallow  and  dishonored  grave.  No 
man  except  those  converted  prisoners  cared  for  his  soul 
and  what  could  they  do  to  help  his  broken  fortunes. 
But  the  wonder  of  it  was  that  he  did  not  die.  Sick  he 
was,  but  die  he  would  not.  He  lingered  until  his  pres- 
ence was  an  offense  and  the  wearied  officers  actually 
decided  to  put  him  out  of  the  prison  and  that  seemed 
only  another  way  to  let  him  die.  They  gave  him  liberty 
but  it  was  not  liberty  to  go  home,  but  to  quit  the  borders 
of  Russia.  Never  seemed  liberty  so  empty  and  worthless 
as  it  must  have  seemed  to  this  enfeebled  and  penniless 
preacher  as  he  emerged  from  a  prison  where  he  had 
languished  for  sixteen  years. 


214  MODERN  BAPTIST 

But  he  went  out  and  made  his  way  over  mountain 
and  stream,  through  weeks  of  lonely  tramping  until 
at  last  with  returning  health  and  renewed  vigoi 
he  planted  his  foot  on  the  friendly  soil  of  Roumania. 
There  for  years  he  lived  and  grew  and  worked,  but  he 
was  not  happy.  His  mother  country  had  spurned  him 
but  his  soul  cried  to  go  home.  His  life  of  exile  was 
as  bitter  as  the  Siberian  prison.  At  length  a  petition 
went  up  to  the  Dowager  Queen  that  Baptists  might  have 
the  right  to  be  Baptists  and  to  remain  in  the  empire. 
At  first  she  read  the  appeal  and  flung  it  down  and  once 
more  Kostromin  was  struck  a  stunning  blow.  But  never 
mind ;  he  had  learned  to  labor  and  to  wait  and  another 
time  later  on  a  new  prayer  went  to  the  Dowager  Queen. 
It  was  a  prayer  from  Baptists  that  they  might  be  at 
home  in  Russia,  and  still  be  Baptists.  Glorious  news  in- 
deed .came  back.  The  queen's  heart  had  melted;  the 
prayer  was  heard  and  in  the  answer  all  the  Baptists  in 
Russia  might  remain  and  worship  and  they  who  had 
been  driven  out  might  come  home. 

It  can  excite  no  surprise  that  our  lion-hearted 
brother  is  at  home  in  the  Scriptures.  During  the  years 
of  his  banishment  and  exile,  there  was  one  friend  who 
stayed  with  him  day  and  night,  and  year  after  year. 
To  every  cry  of  his  soul,  that  friend  gave  heed  and  min- 
istered to  his  necessities  without  price.  That  friend 
was  the  Bible.  They  were  prisoners  together  and  yet 
as  no  chain  can  bind  the  truth,  so  was  it  true  that  the 
word  of  the  Lord  gave  freedom  to  Kostromin — freedom 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  215 

of  soul,  and  freedom  for  fellowship  unconfined  by  bars 
or  bonds.  Someone  has  said  that  our  brother  knows  the 
Bible  by  heart  and  whether  that  be  literally  true  or  not, 
it  is  true  beyond  all  question,  that  he  knows  the  Bible 
in  his  heart.  He  has  tested  it  and  found  it  the  word  of 
life  and  all-sufficient  in  times  of  supremest  trouble.  He 
loves  it  as  his  life;  he  studies  it  with  unmeasured  eager- 
ness; it  is  wrought  into  the  texture  of  his  being;  its  life- 
giving  power  mixes  in  his  blood  and  its  light  has  proven 
mightier  than  the"  dungeon  blackness  of  his  prison. 

A   WINNING  PERSONALITY. 

There  is  a  mellow  charm  about  his  personality.  It 
is  the  lofty  sobriety  which  marks  the  conqueror.  It 
is  impossible  for  him  not  to  know  the  heroic  features 
of  his  career,  but  he  knows  them  as  one  who  knows 
them  not.  There  is  no  consciousness  about  him  of  being 
out  of  the  usual.  He  carries  with  him  the  modesty 
w*hich  adorned  him  in  those  pregnant  days  when  he 
had  fellowship  vriih.  Christ  in  his  suffering.  It  looks 
as  if  something  of  the  freshness  of  his  middle  life  which 
in  part  went  out  of  him  during  the  solitude  of  his  cell 
has  come  back  to  him,  now  that  he  is  free  again. 

Those  who  live  nearest  to  this  nobleman  of  the  Lord 
say  that  he  has  in  him  the  charm  of  genuine  humor. 
He  can  see  the  funny  point  in  a  storj^;  his  nature  re- 
sponds to  the  playful  and  laughable.  They  tell  the  story 
on  him  that  on  his  way  to  America,  he  stoutly   con- 


216  MODERN   BAPTIST 

tended  that  they  were  on  their  way  to  that  Philadelphia 
of  the  olden  times,  spoken  of  in  the  Revelation  of  John. 

His  brethren  protested  and  sought  to  explain  but 
he  would  have  none  of  it.  He  said  there  might  be  a  New 
York  and  a  New  England,  but  there  had  gone  forth  no 
report  of  any  New  Philadelphia  and  this  playful  contest 
he  ran  so  skillfully  that  those  who  bantered  with  him 
were  left  in  doubt  to  the  last  as  to  whether  he  was  serious 
about  it  or  not.  No  man  can  be  well  rounded  in  his 
greatness  w^ho  is  destitute  of  native  humor.  It 
is  that  singular  and  indefinable  quality  of  the  mind 
which  gives  light  to  love,  ease  to  labor,  relief  to  suffering, 
and  even  hope  to  despair.  It  is  no  strain  of  the  imagi- 
nation of  our  Brother  Kostromin  finding  in  the  midst  of 
all  the  woes  and  wrecks  of  the  prison  something  to 
amuse  him,  and  to  light  up  a  life  so  confined  and 
crossed.  The  sight  of  Kostromin's.  face  was  actually 
a  means  of  grace;  it  edified  the  whole  assembly. 

He  w£is  a  distinct  contribution  to  the  occasion.  In 
him  we  saw  a  living  demonstration  of  a  triumphant 
faith.  For  my  part  I  was  made  thoroughly  ashamed 
of  myself;  I  shrank  into  nothing  and  hardly  felt  my- 
self presentable  in  the  Kingdom  of  God  beside  such  a 
man  as  he  was.  I  came  out  of  Philadelphia  \\nth  the 
spell  of  his  personality  upon  me.  The  glow  of  his  life 
lit  up  the  mountains  of  God  and  I  saw  new  peaks  and 
cliffs  of  w^hich  I  had  not  dreamed  before.  Indeed,  from 
that  time  I  have  almost  felt  as  if  my  Russian  chieftain 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  217 

were  watching  me  and  that  therefore  I  must  behave  well 
while  under  his  eye. 

It  is  therefore  in  no  trivial  or  extravagant  mood  that 
I  have  dared  to  strike  off  this  rude  picture  of  the  one 
man  who  unquestionably  has  suffered  more  for  Christ 
than  any  other  man  that  I  have  ever  known  and  it  is 
with  no  inxddious  spirit  at  all,  that  I  would  exalt  hi]n 
to  the  chief  place  in  the  Baptist  family  of  the  world. 

William  E.  Hatcher,  D.D., 

Fork  Union,  Va. 


JOHANN  GERHARD  ONCKEN, 

GERMANY'S  APOSTLE. 

It  is  not  easy  to  think  of  some  of  the  Lord's  sen^anta 
as  martyrs,  even  though  they  may  have  sTifTered  much 
persecution,  and  even  come  to  death  in  their  witness 
of  Jesus.  Their  ma^^tery  of  obstacles  amid  persecutions 
and  in  the  face  of  opposition  and  under  trials  such  as 
daunt  and  destroy  the  average  man,  their  achievements 
under  difficulties  that  piaralyze  tlie  elTorts  of  ordinaiy 
men,  so  attest  God's  use  of  them  in  the  work  of  His 
Kingdom  that  they  stand  before  our  minds  as  heroes 
and  not  as  martyrs.  Admiration  for  what  they  were 
and  did  obscures  t)he  memory  of  what  they  suffered. 
Such  a  man  is  Johann  Gerhard  Oncken,  the  file-leader 
of  Baptists  on  the  Continent  of  Europe.  We  must  speak 
of  him  in  the  present  tense,  for  his  Hfe  is  a  permanent 
possession  and  force  of  Baptist  life  on  the  Continent  of 
Europe.  Can  anyone  think  of  Paul  as  a  martyr?  So 
masterful  was  his  spirit  under  his  glad  bondage  to  Jesus 
Christ  that  he  could  do  all  things,  could  .-sing  ?ong5  in 
the  darkest  night  in  the  dungeon,  and  in  all  oppression 
was  more  than  conqueror.  Lie  was  a  martyr  indeed, 
and  wdth  his  head  paid  the  price  of  loyalty  to  Jesus  of 
Nazareth;  but  we  think  of  him  as  the  man  of  faith, 


220  MODERN  BAPTIST 

and  cherish  his  memor}^  for  his  work.  No  less  a  man 
than  Charles  H.  Spurgeon,  who  knenv  him  well,  applied 
bo  Oncken  the  title,  'The  Apostle  Paul  of  Germany.'' 
No  one  can  read  the  admirably  written  life  of  Oncken 
by  the  Rev.  John  Hunt  Cooke*  without  being  constantly 
reminded  of  parallels  in  character,  experiences  and  re- 
sults of  the  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles. 

The  place  of  his  birth  was  determined  by  politicid 
pereecution  and  the  way  of  his  ministry  lay  through 
opposition,  affliction  and  religious  persecution.  Tie  was 
often  crowned  with  physical  suffering  and  mental  dis- 
tress inflicted  becaiige  of  his  faith  and  'boldness.  Hig 
latter  years  witnessed  the  victory  of  much  for  which 
he  had  -striven  and  endured,  and,  apart  from  serious 
suffering  in  body  and  in  the  last  days  sad  failure  of 
mental  powers,  his  days  ended  in  peaceful  and  triumph- 
al honor. 

Naturally  he  should  have  been  born  in  the  small 
duchy  of  Varel-Oldenberg,  near  the  North  Sea,  a  pUice 
which  he  loved  as  the  ances»tral  home  and  the  scene 
of  his  boyhood  and  which  he  visited  with  tender  intere^ft 
in  his  old  age.  But  about  the  time  of  his  birth  Napoleon 
was  in  the  ascendant  and  in  those  regions  playing  havoe 
with  the  liberties  of  the  people.  Having  subdued  the 
territory  and  asserted  his  sovereignty  over  the  people,  he 
was  impressing  them  into  the  service  of  his  armlies  of 


*  I  have  relied  for  many  facts  upon  this  volume. 


JOHANN  GERHARD  ONCKEN. 


(221 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  223 

conque,^  against  neighboring  lands.  Oncken'g  father 
escaped  this  unwelcome  senice  by  flight  to  London, 
and  so  it  came  to  pass  that  our  Ge/rman  hero  was  born 
in  England;  and  that,  again,  had  much  to  do  with  the 
nature  and  success  of  his  career.  This  wiis  on  Januar}' 
26,  1800.  Two  years  later  the  father  had  died  and  the 
orphan  child  was  carried  'back  to  A^arel  to  be  brought 
up  by  his  grandmother. 

A  worse  affliction  than  Napoleon's  tyranny  cursed 
the  land.  French  domination  brought  in  rationalism 
and  infidelity,  and  in  their  wake  followed  licentiousness 
and  every  form  of  depra\ity.  When  Oncken  entered 
xi-pon  his  ministry  but  one  German  pastor  in  Hamburg 
was  preaching  the   (xospel  based  on  the   Incarnation. 

In  1823  Oncken  accepted  appointment  under  the 
Continental  Society  as  missionary  for  Germany,  and  in 
December  located  in  Hamburg  to  begin  work.  Having 
joined  an  Independent  congregation  in  London  he  car- 
ried a  letter  to  a  church  of  that  denomination  in  Ham- 
burg. Here  the  pastor,  Rev.  T.  W.  Matthew^-?,  had  the 
insight  at  once  to  perceive  the  worth  of  the  young 
missionary  and  not  only  took  him  to  live  in  his  own 
home  but  provided  a  suitable  room  for  his  work.  Pastor 
Matthe^vs  also  gave  Oncken  a  pocket  J^ible  with  an 
inscription  that  was  to  prove  sig-nificantly  prophetic  for 
both  the  men.  It  was  a  quo'tation  from  Joshua  1  :8 : 
"This  book  of  the  law  shall  not  depart  out  of  thy 
mouth;  but  thou  shalt  meditate  thereon  day  and  night, 
that  thou  may  est  observe  to  do  according  to  all  that  is 


224  MODEKN   BAPTIST 

wntten  therein;  for  then  shalt  thou  make  thy  way  pros- 
perous, and  thou  shalt  have  good  success."  Had  Mat- 
thews known  the  course  God  had  planned  for  Oncken 
and  wished  to  lead  his  mind  into  it  and  prepare 
liis  heart  for  it,  no  text  in  all  the  Bible  could  more 
fitly  have  been  chosen.  And  likewise  no  passage 
could  more  fitly  set  forth  the  attitude  and  out- 
come of  Oncken's  life.  Cooke  well  says:  ''Mr. 
Oncken  was  what,  in  olden  times,  was  called  'a 
right  Bible  nmn.'  Ho  believed  in  plenary  inspiration 
and  in  the  infallibility  and  authority  of  the  Bible;  ita 
word  was  to  him  the  end  of  strife,  'Holy  writ'  was 
Gpod'6  word  written,  the  Bible  was  the  word  of  God." 
God  had  providentially  led  him  to  Hamburg  to  bes^n 
his  work  and  now  he  binds  him  up  thus  with  Mattliews. 
Later  when  Matthews  learned  that  Oncken  was  being 
led  by  the  command  of  the  word  of  the  law  to  the 
Baptist  position  and  was  contemplating  baptism  he 
urged  him  by  no  means  to  do  this.  To  enlighten 
Oncken  he  preached  a  sermon  on  the  subject,  by  which 
Oncken  was  the  more  confirmed  in  his  course  and  two 
Methodist  ministers  in  the  audience  were  led  to  become 
Baptists.  The  sermon  was  also  not  without  its  infiuence 
on  Matthews  himself  since  he  later  became  a  Baptist 
pa^^tor  in  London  and  at  length  in  Boston. 

BEGINNING  OF  HIS  WORK  AND  HIS  PERSECUTIONS, 

But  here  we  have  gotten  ahead  of  the  story.     No 
sooner  had  the  missionary  begun  active  work  in  1824 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  225 

than  opposition  began,  soon  to  expra-is  it?elf  in  persecu- 
tion. His  work  was  that  of  an  evangehstic  colporter, 
in  connection  with  wliich  he  very  soon  began  holding 
meetings  in  which  he  preached  repentance  and  th« 
regenerate  life.  Such  preaching  to  j^eople  practically 
all  hereditar}^  church  members  to  wlwrn  the  sacrament- 
al functions  of  ''baptism"  and  confirmation  had  been 
administered,  treating  them  as  if  unsaved,  involved  the 
practical  denial  of  the  saving  efficacy  of  the  Church. 
Oncken  was  not  a  member  of  the  state  Church  and  had 
no  legal  warrant  for  preaching.  To  minister  to  an  In- 
dependent church  community,  made  up  mainly  of 
foreigners,  as  in  the  case  of  Pastor  Matthews,  was  a  very 
different  matter  from  general  evangelistic  preaching 
which  could  be  condemned  for  proselytizing.  Oncken's 
ministry  and  his  gospel  were  both  in  contrav^5ntion 
of  those  of  the  state  Church. 

In  1825  he  originated  the  first  Sunday  R-hool  in 
Germany.  This  meant  a  new  cause  for  opposition.  Of 
the  twenty-five  Lutheran  ministers  then  in  the  city 
but  one  approved  this  ''English  plant"  being  rooted  in 
German  soil.  So  fierce  did  persecution  become,  the 
missionar\'  waa  driven  to  holding  meetings  in  cellars, 
garrets,  vile  and  obscure  alleys  and  such  out-of-the-way 
places  as  he  might  gather  the  people  into.  He  had 
been  getting  his  Bibles  through  a  friend  from  the 
depot  of  a  society  whose  manager  was  a  "Rationalistic 
pastor."  ^Vhen  once  he  s^ent  a  messenger  direct  for  a 
supply  the  agent  said :  "What  becomes  of  all  the  Bibles, 


226  MODERN  BAPTIST 

does  the  man  eat  them?  He  shall  not  have  any  more." 
''Mr.  Oncken  then  went  himself,  but  when  the  pastor 
heard  his  name  he  exclaimed,  'So  you  are  the  man  that 
preaches  in  cellars  and  garrets,  everywhere!  Your 
cursed  preaching!  Whoever  told  you  to  preach?"  He 
replied,  'The  Lord  Jesus  has  commanded  me  to  preach.' 
'The  devil  has  commanded  you/  was  the  reply  as  he 
sprang  to  his  feet  in  a  rage." 

In  1826  Oncken  fled  from  Hamburg  to  Bremen, 
where  many  were  led  to  the  Lord  in  his  meetings;  but 
the  next  year  he  is  back  in  Hamburg.  The  year  1828 
was  very  notable  in  the  life  of  our  hero.  Then  it  waa 
he  became  agent  of  the  Edinburgh  Bible  Society,  a 
position  which  he  held  for  exactly  fifty  years,  during 
which  he  disitributed  more  than  two  million  Bibles  and 
almost  innumerable  tracts,  and  retired  from  this  office 
with  the  signal  honor  of  the  society.  In  the  same 
year  he  began  a  book  business  which  he  also  maintained 
until  1878  when,  according  to  his  own  plans,  he  turned 
it  over  to  the  German  Baptist  Union  to  be  conducted 
in  connection  with  the  American  Baptist  Publication 
Society,  while  he  received  an  annuity  of  a  thousand 
dollars  until  liis  death. 

ON   THE   WAY   TO   THE  BAPTISTS. 

Already  Oncken  had  "doubts  of  the  scripturalness  of 
the  rite  generally  called  baptism,  both  of  the  mode  of 
its  ministration  by  sprinkling  and  of  the  subjects,  un- 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  227 

conscious  babes,"  so  that  he  was  uirwilling  to  yield  to 
the  urgent  wiish  of  the  Lutheran  ministers  in  Bremen 
that  he  accept  orders  and  a  pastorate  in  that  church. 

In  1829  he  faced  the  question  of  christening  his  first 
child  and  declined  to  have  it  done.  He  was  now  m  the 
highway  to  the  complete  Baptist  position  at  which  he 
arrived  live  years  later. 

The  account  of  his  journey  to  the  Baptist  fold  can 
be  taken  largely  from  his  address  at  the  twenty-fifth 
anniversary  of  the  Hamburg  Baptist  church:  "A\'hen  it 
pleased  God  to  call  the  poor  sinner,  who  is  now  address- 
ing you,  to  His  fellowship,  and  he  had  learned  to  love 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  it  soon  became  a  fixed  principle 
for  the  remainder  of  his  life,  in  matters  ot  faith  not 
to  accept  anything,  whoever  might  have  believed  and 
taught  it,  unless  it  could  be  proved  clearly  and  distinctly 
by  a  Avord  recorded  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  *  *  *  it  became 
clear  to  him,  althoug-h  he  had  previously  not  heard  or 
known  of  Baptists  in  America  or  England,  that  infant 
baptism,  or  more  correctly,  infant  sprinkling,  had  no 
place  in  the  New  Testament."  As  to  the  act  of  baptism 
he  was  similarly  led.  ''Gradually  he  perceived  it  to  be 
alike  the  blessed  privilege  and  sacred  duty  of  all  tho&t) 
who  have  been  regenerated  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  follow 
the  Lord  in  baptism.  Some  other  brethren  at  lhv>  same 
time  arrived  at  the  same  conviction.  There  was,  how- 
ever, no  Philip  at  hand.  In  1829  I  wrote  for  the  first 
time  to  a  baptized  Christian,  Mr.   Robert  Haldane,  of 


228  MODERN  BAPTIST 

Edinburgh  *  *  *.  This  dear  man  gave  me  the  extra- 
ordinary advice  to  baptize  myself.  *  *  *  from  "Matthe^v 
to  Revelation  I  could  find  no  case  of  self-baptism,  and 
*  *  *  would  not  act  on  my  own  responsibiUty.  Brothei 
Lange,  who  shared  my  views,  found  mth  me  that  oui 
only  recourse  was  prayer,  *  *  *.  Some  few  desired  that 
we  should  at  least  together  partake  of  the  I;ard'<  Supper, 
but  to  this  I  could  not  consent,  feeling  sure  that,  if  the 
work  was  begun  in  a  wrong  manner,  it  would  also  be 
continued  in  a  wrong  way,  and  I  cannot  now  sufficiently 
praise  the  Lord  that  He  overruled  us  in  the  matter  and 
that  we  did  not  venture  to  constitute  a  church  for  which 
we  have  no  example  in  the  New  Testament.  I  then  wrote 
to  Mr.  Ivemey,  a  Baptist  minister  in  I-;on'don,  wlio,  in 
reply,  asked  me  to  come  to  London  to  be  baptized  there, 
but  at  the  time  I  was  so  fully  engaged  with  pressing 
work  concerning  the  Kingdom  of  God,  that  I  did  net 
feel  justified  to  undertake  a  journey  which  would,  in 
those  days,  have  necessitated  an  albsence  of  two  mouth?.'' 
The  next  winter  God  sent  to  Hamburg  an  American, 
Captain  Calvin  Tubbs,  whose  ship  was  icebound  and  he 
was  compelled  to  spend  six  months  in  Hamburg.  He 
met  and  had  fellowship  ■^'ith  Oncken  and  his  friends  and 
upon  his  release  reported  the  case  to  the  Baptist  Mission- 
ary Society  in  Boston.  They,  in  turn,  found  in  Prof. 
Barnas  Sears,  going  to  Germany  for  study  in  1833,  an 
opportunity  to  minister  to  the  waiting  brethren.  Dr. 
Sears  found  "a,  man  interesting  from  every  point  of 
view.    He  is  about  thirty  years  of  age,  married  in  Eng- 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  229 

land,  and  is  well  acquainted  with  the  EngHsh  language. 
He  has  not,  indeed,  had  the  advantage  of  a  very  learned 
education,  but  possesses  a  clear  and  penetrating  under- 
standing, is  well  read,  a  man  of  unusual  practical  ex- 
perience and  of  a  very  agreeable  appearance  and 
gentlemanly  manner.  He  has  the  confidence  of  Tholuck, 
Hahn,  Hengstenberg,  and  many  other  distinguished 
men  of  the  Evangelical  party,  who  are  associated  with 
him  in  the  distribution  of  Bibles  and  tracts."  This 
was  in  the  summer  of  1833.  Dr.  Sears  regarded  that 
"Oncken  and  his  friends  were  ready  and  fully  pre- 
pared to  receive  baptism,  but  as  Oncken  was  just  on  the 
point  of  starting  on  a  journey  to  Poland,  for  the  Scotch 
Bible  Society,  and  did  not  consider  it  wise  to  leave  the 
little  flock  immediately  after  they  had  been  baptized, 
the  baptism  was  postponed  until  in  April,  1834.  Pro- 
fessor Sears  came  from  Halle,  *  *  and  the  important 
baptism  took  place."  On  a  beautiful  evening  ''the  little 
party  left  the  city,  soon  after  sunset  *  * ;  these  faithful 
disciples  knew  well  that  they  were  in  danger  of  being 
punished  and  having  their  goods  seized  by  the  authori- 
ties of  the  city  for  daring  thus  to  obey  their  Lord's 
precept  and  command.  There  was  also  a  certain  gloomy 
prison,  the  spirit-cru;:hing  interior  of  which  their  leader 
was  to  know  only  too  well.  The  brave  little  party  con- 
sisted of  J.  G.  Oncken  and  his  wife,  Sarah  Oncken;  a 
shoemaker  and  his  T\dfe,  Diedrich  and  Henrietta  Lange ; 
another  shoemaker,  Heinrich  Kruger;  a  looking-glass 
miaker,  Ernest  Buckendahl;  and  Johannes  Gusdorf,  a 


280  MODERN  BAPTIST 

Jewish  proselyte  and  linen  draper,"  with  Professor  Sears. 
There,  in  the  twilight  that  lingers  so  beautifully  under 
Northern  skies,  these  seven  put  on  Christ  in  baptism 
and  inaugurated  a  new  era  in  Germany  and  all  Europe. 
They  returned  joyfully  to  the  city  in  the  darkness  of 
the  night  and  in  darkness  so  far  as  their  earthly  future 
was  lighted  by  anything  but  hope  in  God  for  whom  they 
were  ready  to  suffer  all  things. 

At  once  these  Baptists  fell  under  the  contempt  and 
suspicion  of  all  the  truth  and  slander  that  tradition  had 
brought  down  through  two  centuries  concerning  Anar 
baptists.  Inevitably  they  would  be  misunderstood  and 
even  friends  who  did  not  censure  would  necessarily  be 
eeparated  from  them.  This  Oncken  had  fully  reckoned 
in  the  price  of  obedience  and  in  all  his  persecutiona 
bore  himself  absolutely  without  bitterness  and  in  the 
manner  of  the  true  Christian,  seeking  the  good  of  even 
his  enemies.  He  was  secretary  of  a  German  tract  society 
which  now  severed  relations  with  him ;  he  had  to  give  up 
his  work  in  the  Sunday  school  which  he  had  founded, 
and  of  course  he  surrendered  his  membership  in  the  In« 
dependent  church. 

One  serious  consideration  leading  him  to  separate 
himself  from  pedobaptism  was  his  concern  for  the  con- 
verts and  friends  made  in  evangelistic  labors  and  to 
whose  spiritual  needs  he  would ,  minister  the  better  if 
formed  into  New  Testament  groups  of  believers.  But 
now  many  of  these  would  go  no  more  with  him,  while 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  231 

influential  frienda  of  this  work  who  stood  high  in  the 
Lutheran  church  could  no  longer  be  friendly. 

Because  the  course  of  the  Baptists  was  in  \dolaition 
of  law  their  baptisms  were  administered  at  night  and 
the  enemies  seized  upon  this  fact  to  circulate  scandalous 
stories  about  the  Baptists.  They  determined  to  brave 
the  consequences  of  open  obedience  before  all  men.  The 
authorities  sought  to  stamp  out  the  innovation  by  offer- 
ing to  Oncken  a  free  passage  for  himself  and  family 
to  America;  but  God  had  placed  him  in  Germany  and 
there  he  must  proclaim  the  word.  He  would  not  leave. 
He  was  thrown  into  the  Winsei^aum  prison,  which 
rose  up  out  of  the  waters  of  the  Elbe,  the  stench  of 
whose  filth  added  to  his  suffering  and  planted  seeds  of 
disease  from  which  in  after  years  he  suffered  much. 
His  friends  would  gather  on  Sundays  on  a  near- 
by bridge  and  wave  to  him'  greetings  which  he  un- 
derstood. It  was  not  long  until  he  one  night  heard  in 
a  cell  above  him,  singing  in  a  voice  that  he  recognized 
as  that  of  his  friend,  Lange,  and  he  joined  with  him 
as  Paul  with  Silas  in  Philippi,  so  long  before.  The 
saints  found  means  of  communicating  with  him  by 
use  of  a  false  bottom  in  a  coffee  pot,  by  inclosing  notes 
in  bread  and  in  other  ways.  The  prison  guard  detected  a 
note  inside  a  loaf  and  demanding  it,  read,  "Dear  brother, 
the  Lord's  work  goes  on*  well,  may  that  comfort  and  re- 
fresh your  spirit.  Yesterday  we  met  in  twelve  places; 
tjie  police  were  hunting  for  us  but  failed  to  find  usJ' 


232  MODERN   BAPTISl 

IN   PRISONS   OFTEN. 

It  would  be  useless  to  tell  of  all  the  persecutions 
Oncken  suffered.  It  is  doubtful  whether  he  himself 
had  any  record  of  the  times  he  was  in  prison  or  the 
many  fines  he  refused  to  pay  only  to  have  his  goods 
taken  away.  These  things  continued  in  his  own  city 
until  in  1857  full  tolerance,  and  in  1858  religious  equal- 
ity was  declared  in  Hamburg.  Outside  Hamburg  and  in 
his  two  journe}^  into  Russia  his  sufferings  continued 
through  his  entire  ministry.  After  1848  Oncken  was 
largely  at  liberty  in  Hamburg.  In  that  year  political 
upheavals  stirred  Europe  and  revolution  spread  in  Ger- 
miany.  It  was  found  that  although  they  greatly  de- 
sired increased  freedom,  "not  one  of  the  five  thousand 
members"  of  the  Baptist  churches  took  any  part  in  tha 
revolutionary  movements;  a  leading  official,  Senator 
Binder,  said  to  Mr.  Oncken:  "Your  conduct  and  that 
of  your  members  has  been  so  noble,  that  we  must  give 
you  all  you  ask,  and  henceforth  .anjd^hing  I  can  do  to 
serve  you,  I  shall  be  happy  to  do."  This  was  the  same 
man  who  early  in  the  movement  had  declared  that 
"everything  possible  would  be  done  to  root  out  the  Bap- 
tist heresy ;"  and,  when  Oncken  had  reminded  him  that 
no  purely  religious  movement  had  ever  been  suppressed 
by  force  and  that  he  would  find  his  labor  in  vain,  re- 
plied: "Then  it  shall  not  be  my  fault,  but  so  long  aa 
I  can  move  my  little  finger,  it  shall  be  raised  against 
you." 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  233 

LAYING    FAR-REACHING    FOUNDATIONS. 

TJiese  missionary  journeys  were  a  feature  of  all  hia 
ministry,  and  for  fifty  years  Oncken  was  the  recognized 
father  of  the  Bapti.^t  brotherhood  scattered  throughout 
Germany  and  with  groups  in  Vienna  and  other  Austria- 
Hungarian  centers  as  well  as  in  Denmark  and  Russia. 
Many  of  these  he  had  fonned  in  spite  of  the  watchful 
and  pursuing  vengeance  of  the  authorities.  Driven  away 
from  one  community  he  w^ould  flee  to  anol:her  and 
leave  behind  a  line  of  baptized  converts.  Then  he  must 
visit  again  the  brethren  to  see  how  they  fared  and 
confirm  them  in  the  faith.  He  was  also  much  given  to, 
and  gifted  in,  the  wi'iting  of  letters  by  which  he  en- 
couraged those  w^hom  he  could  not  visit.  In  1849  he 
began  the  more  formal  training  of  ministers,  beginning 
what  came  to  be  the  Hamburg  Theological  Seminary. 
He  found  from  time  to  time  that  God  was  giving  him 
able  men  for  helpers.  In  1837  he  baptized  six  converts 
at  BerUn  and  founded  the  church  there,  including  G.  W. 
Lehmann,  a  man  of  learning  and  power,  two  of  whose 
sons  have  succeeded  the  distinguished  father  in  great 
service  to  the  Baptist  cause  in  Germany. 

In  1835  the  American  Baptist  Missionarv^  Union 
appointed  Oncken  their  missionary  and  as  such  gave 
him  splendid  encouragement  and  such  financial  support 
as  was  possible  through  all  the  years.  In  1853  he  made 
an  extended  trip  to  America  which  was  a  joy  to  him 
and  a  blessing  to  dthers.    But  he  was  caught  in  a  dis- 


234  MODERN  BAPTIST 

astrous  railway  wreck,   from  the  effects   of  which  he 
never  fully  recovered. 

When  he  gave  up  his  labors  he  had  experienced  much 
suffering  for  his  Lord,  but  he  had  also  seen  the  sal- 
vation of  the  Lord.  '^His  safety  and  even  his  life  were 
often  endangered  by  the  fury  of  mobs,  and  until  1848 
he  was  suhjected  to  expulsions,  fines  and  imprisonment;'' 
in  one  state  a  reward  was  offered  for  his  arrest;  ''in 
Denmark  he  was  declared  an  outlaw  and  a  judicial  de- 
cree was  issued  threatening  with  the  severest  penalties 
any  person  concealing  his  whereabouts,"  while  a  "reward 
was  offered  to  any  who  would  reveal  him.  Of  this  period 
Oncken  has  written :  ''Our  baptisms  all  took  place  under 
cover  of  the  night  and  on  my  missionary^  journeys  *  * 
I  was  banished  successively  from  almost  every  state  in 
Germany.  I  could  never  travel  as  an  honest  m^n  by 
daylight,  but  was  compelled  to  journey  on  foot  in  the 
darkness,  to  hold  services,  examine  candidates,  admin- 
ister the  ordinances,  and  form  churches  in  the  dead  of 
night,  and  take  care  to  be  across  the  frontiers  before  the 
break  of  day  for  fear  of  my  pursuers."  He  had  also  the 
distress  of  seeing  his  converts  suffer  the  most  bitter  per- 
secutions. 

HE  SAW  THE  HARVEST  RIPENING. 

But  in  the  end  he  saw  all  the  varied  institutions  of 
free  Christianity  growing  up,  a  large  measure  of  religious 
freedom  gained  in  Germany  and  elsewhere;  he  could 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  285 

meet  with  the  German  Baptist  Union  of  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  churches,  thirty-one  thousand,  three 
hundred  and  forty-eight  members,  seventeen  thousand 
Sunday  school  children;  he  knew  of  thousands  of  Ger- 
m'an  Baptists  who  had  gone  to  Amjerica;  he  had  com- 
munication with  growing  Baptist  communities  in  Aus* 
tria,  Bulgaria,  Roumania,  Hungary,  Poland,  Holland, 
Switzerland,  Transcaucasia,  and  throughout  Russia.  It 
was  wonderful  the  progress  of  one  lifetime,  xind  more 
than  any  one  man  God  had  used  him  to  accomplish  it. 
When  the  infirmities  of  age  called  him  away  to  Zurich 
to  await  the  summons  of  the  Master,  he  went  with  the 
loA^e  of  many  thousands  to  whom  he  had  brought  the 
light  of  God;  and  could  in  peace  commit  his  soul  and 
his  service  to  God.  They  carried  the  body  to  Hamburg 
and  erected  a  memorial  stone,  an  obelisk  of  granite,  on 
which  is  inscribed: 

JOHANN  GERHARD  ONCKEN, 
BORN  26  JANUARY,  1800, 
DIED  2  JANUARY,  1884. 

''One  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism. '' — Eph.  4:5. 
''And  they  continued  steadfastly  in  the  Apostles*  doc- 
trine and  fellowship,  and  in  breaking  of  bread,  and  in 
prayers." — Acts  2 :42. 

January  26,  1900,  his  centenary  was  observed  in  the 
Hamburg  church  and  a  tablet  erected  to  commemorate 
his  life  and  work.    His  biographer  says  of  him:    "He 


236  MODERN  BAPTIST 

was  the  pioneer  and  leader  of  the  great  free  church 
movement  on  the  continent  of  Europe  vnih  its  attend- 
ant development  of  liberty  both  of  thought  and  action." 
Dr.  Joseph  Angus  wrote:  "No  man  more  deserves  to 
be  remembered  and  honored  for  the  grace  in  him.  He 
has  done  more  for  evangelical  truth  on  the  continent 
than  any  other  man — than  any  number  of  men  in 
this  century."  Spurgeon  came  increasingly  to  admire 
and  love  him  and  when  the  new  chapel  was  opened 
for  the  Hamburg  church  in  1867,  went  to  make  an 
address  and  had  great  satisfaction  in  renewing  fellow- 
ship with  a  man  of  whom  he  wrote  at  his  death:  "That 
countr}^  has  lost  in  Oncken  a  much  greater  m-an  than 
she  will  today  believe."  He  was  the  leader  of  that  body 
of  which  Principal  Cairns  once  wrote:  "I  have  just  re- 
turned from  Germany,  where  I  find  that  by  their  char- 
acter, losses  and  advocacy,  the  Baptisit-s  have  secured 
for  themselves  and  others,  rehgious  liberty — Kttle  short 
of  a  second  reformation."  Such  achievement  is  won  only 
by  suffering;  but  is  worth  suffering  to  win. 

W.  0.  Caever,  Th.D., 

Louisville,  Ky. 


A  ROLL  CALL  OF  CHINESE  MARTYRS. 

^'Doth  Job  fear  God  for  naught?  Hast  not  thou 
made  a  hedge  about  him,  and  about  his  house,  and 
about  all  that  he  hath,  on  every  side?  Thou  hast 
blessed  the  work  of  his  hands,  and  his  substance  is  in- 
creased in  the  land.  But  put  forth  thy  hand  now,  and 
touch  all  that  he  hath,  and  he  will  renounce  thee  to 
thy  face." 

This  sneer  of  the  wicked  one  has  been  often  repeated 
through  the  ages  and  often  Jehovah  has  permitted  Satan 
to  do  his  worst  in  testing  God's  people,  with  the  result 
that  they  have  gone  through  the  fire  ^dthout  faltering. 
One  of  the  latest  and  most  marked  examples  is  that  of 
the  native  Christians  in  China  during  the  Boxer  upris- 
ing in  1900.  This  Boxer  movement  was  not  primarily 
antagonistic  to  the  Christian  religion.  It  was  an  upris- 
ing against  all  foreigners,  resulting  largely  from  politi- 
cal conditions.  The  missionaries  were  included  simply 
because  they  were  foreigners  and  the  native  Christians 
suffered,  not  so  much  because  they  were  Christians,  but 
they  were  regarded    as    followers    of    the    foreigners. 

The  whole  aim  of  the  persecution  was  intended  to 
force  the  native  Christi'ans  to  give  up  a  religion  which 
had  been  introduced  by  foreigners. 


238  MODERN   BAPTIST- 

Almost  the  whole  world  doubted  the  genuineness  of 
the  Christianity  of  the  Chinese.  The  epithet  ^^Rice  Chris- 
tians" was  universally  on  the  lips  of  ungodly  men  and 
not  infrequently  uttered  by  professing  Christians  in  this 
country.  In  its  full  meaning,  it  was  an  emphatic  repe- 
tition of  the  sneering  w^ords  of  Satan  concerning  Job. 
But  the  fateful  summer  of  1900  proved  the  profound 
falsity  of  the  <iharge.  The  eleventh  chapter  of  Hebrews 
was  repeated  in  every  particular,  condensed  into  a  nar- 
•row  scope  of  space  and  time  and  brought  up  to  date. 
Vvlien  the  awful  crj,  ''KilU  Kill!"  rang  through  all 
the  cities  and  villages  of  several  provinces,  especially  in 
North  China,  and  sword  and  fire  devastated  the  country, 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  Chinese  Christians  suffered 
the  loss  of  all  things,  endured  the  most  fiendish  tor- 
tures and  thousands  of  them  went  bravely  to  the  mar- 
tyr's death.  ''So  great  was  the  heroism  which  many  of 
them  displayed  that  their  murderers  cut  out  their  hearts 
to  discover,  if  possible,  the  source  of  such  splendid 
courage." 

The  wonder  grows  when  we  realize  that  for  most  of 
them,  it  was  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  to  escape 
either  loss,  torture  or  death.  They  were  given  the  oppor- 
tunity to  recant  either  in  words,  by  burning  a  stick  of 
incense  in  an  idol  temple  or  by  trampling  upon  a  rude 
figure  of  the  cross,  drawn  in  the  road.  It  was  the  express 
wish  and  command  of  the  authorities  that  they  should 
recant  and  preser\^e  the  peace.  Their  heathen  friends 
and  relatives  stood  by  entreating  them,  for  the  sake  of 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  239 

their  country  and  families,  to  deny  their  Lord  by  word, 
or  act,  at  least  as  a  temporary  expedient,  even  though 
they  did  not  mean  it  in  their  hearts.  We  must  remem- 
ber that  in  China  the  lie  of  expediency  is  very  common 
and  is  held  by  the  sage  Confucius  as  being  entirely  justi- 
fiable; "yet  thousands  of  them  faced  entreaty,  promise, 
threat  and  torture  and  to  the  death  refused  to  deny 
their  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  or  to  offer  worship  to  the  im- 
ages in  the  home  or  the  temple." 

It  would  be  unreasonable  to  expect  that  all  the 
Chinese  who  professed  to  be  Christians  could  stand 
the  test.  There  were  some  church  members  who  were 
not  truly  converted  and  they  deserted  as  soon  as  danger 
approached,  and  there  were  a  few  "babes  in  Christ"  who 
were  swept  before  the  awful  tempest  that  broke  upon 
them.  But  the  wonder  is  that  there  were  so  few  of  either 
class.  They  constituted  only  a  small  fraction  of  the 
whole  number  of  professing  Christians  and  most  of 
them  afterwards  came  back  to  the  churches  and  like 
Peter,  with  bitter  tears  and  broken  hearts,  lamented 
their  cowardly  denial  of  their  Lord. 

The  greatest  number  of  Baptist  martyrs  in  1900  was 
in  connection  with  the  English  Baptist  Mission  in 
Shansi  Province. 

The  loss  of  missionary  lives  is  said  to  have  been 
greater  in  this  province  than  that  in  all  the  other  prov- 
inces together  and  the  slaughter  of  the  native  Christians 
was  terrible.  The  reason  for  this  is  that  the  notorious 
governor,  Yu  Hsien,  had  been  transferred  from  Shan- 


240  MODERN  BAPTIST 

tung  to  Shansi  and  had  here  a  free  hand  for  the  execu- 
tion of  his  treacherous,  blood-thirsty  designs,  unre- 
strained by  the  presence  of  foreign  marines.  The  number 
of  Chinese  Baptists  that  suffered  martyrdom  in  this  prov- 
ince is  variously  estimated,  one  hundred  and  twelve 
being  the  lowest  figure  given.  All  the  other  native 
members  of  Baptist  churches  were  scattered,  hunted  like 
wild  beasts  as  they  hid  away  in  grain  fields  and  in  caves  of 
the  mountains  and  they  suffered  the  loss  of  all  that  they 
had.  It  is  said  that  the  fidelity  of  the  native  Christians 
in  this  province  was  indeed  remarkable  for  two  reasons; 
with  few  exceptions  perfect  immunity  from  persecu- 
tion was  assured  to  all  who  obeyed  the  governor's  orders 
to  renounce  Christianity  and  it  was  the  first  generation 
of  Christians  who  had  to  stand  the  test,  as  none  of  those 
in  mature  life  had  become  Christians  in  their  youth. 

FOR  LOVE  OF  THE  MISSIONARIES. 

Many  of  the  native  Christians  who  suffered  martyr- 
dom could  have  easily  escaped  but  for  their  fidelity  to 
the  missionaries  and  their  efforts  to  protect  those  to 
whom  their  hearts  were  bound  by  ties  of  gratitude  and 
of  faith  in  one  Father. 

One  of  those  who  thus  suffered  was  a  Mr.  Chang. 
When  a  group  of  English  Baptist  missionaries  were  flee- 
ing for  their  lives  from  Hsin  Chou,  they  were  welcomed 
to  the  home  of  Mr.  Chang.  He  was  a  noble  Christian 
man  and  did  everything  possible  for  their  relief;  but  as 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  241 

they  were  not  safe  in  his  home,  they  were  carried  to  a 
refuge  in  a  mountain  cave.  A  few  days  later,  Mr.  Chang 
started  to  visit  them.  On  the  way,  he  waa  captured  by 
villagers  who  held  him  until  Boxers  from  Hsin  Chou 
arrived.  These  Boxers  were  seeking  the  hidden  foreign- 
ers and  demanded  that  Mr.  Chang  should  guide  them. 
He  resisted  all  their  promises  and  threatenings  and  reso- 
lutely refused  to  give  a  clew  to  their  whereabouts  and 
when  they  set  upon  him  with  swords  and  sticks,  he 
endured  unto  death  without  betraying  his  friends. 

Another  noble  Christian  man,  a  Mr.  Ho,  sixty  years 
of  age,  had  accompanied  the  missionaries  on  their  flight 
and  remained  with  them  in  their  hiding  place  for  about 
two  weeks.  Then  he  went  out  on  a  scouting  expedition 
to  see  if  it  were  possible  for  them  to  escape.  He  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Boxers  who  delivered  him  to  a  magis- 
trate. He  was  put  in  handcuffs  and  the  next  day  sum- 
moned  to  the  Judgment  Hall  and  asked  to  tell  where 
the  missionaries  were  hiding.  The  old  man  refused  to 
tell  and  the  angry  magistrate  commanded  his  officers  to 
beat  him  with  the  bamboo.  Repeatedly,  the  cruel 
strokes  were  stayed  for  the  question,  ''WTiere  are  the 
foreigners?"  But  the  lips  of  the  sufferer  still  refused  to 
answer.  He  was  mocked  and  taunted,  but  nothing  could 
wring  from  him  his  precious  secret.  WTien  a  thousand 
heavy  strokes  had  fallen  on  his  bleeding  body,  he  wa* 
dragged  to  a  prison, .  half  insensible,  still  handcuffed 
and  his  feet  were  placed  in  the  stocks.     For  four  days 


242  MODERN   BAPTIST 

he  suffered  cruel  tortures  and  went  down  to  death  with 
his  lips  still  sealed. 

At  Shou  Yang,  a  Rev.  Mr.  Pigott  and  his  wife,  with 
a  number  of  other  missionaries,  had  carried  on  for  a  long 
time  an  independent  work  which  was  very  successful. 
It  is  not  certain,  but  is  probable  that  these  independent 
missionaries  were  English  Baptists.  In  1900,  the  work 
was  taken  over  by  the  English  Baptist  Mission  and  Dr. 
E.  H.  Edwards,  a  brother  of  Mrs.  Pigott,  is  still  con- 
nected with  the  work.  A  young  shepherd,  by  the  name 
of  Li  Pai,  purchased  from  Mr.  Pigott  a  copy  of  the  gospel 
of  Luke.  He  was  greatly  impressed  by  it  and  gave  up  hia 
idol  worship.  WTien  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pigott  visited  hia 
village,  he  took  from  his  bosom,  the  little  book,  carefully 
wrapped,  saying  eagerly,  ^'1  have  read  about  Jesus  in 
this  book.  He  was  a  wonderful  man  and  did  great 
work.  Who  was  he?  Why  did  they  kill  him?"  In  a 
little  while,  this  earnest  inquirer  became  a  true  believer 
in  Jesus  as  his  Savior,  and  giving  up  his  work  as  a  shep- 
herd, had  gone  to  help  the  missionaries  in  Shou  Yang. 
When  the  awful  storm  of  persecution  broke,  he  did  all 
that  he  could  for  the  missionaries.  When  the  magistrate 
ordered  the  missionaries  to  leave,  Li  Pai  gathered  all  the 
Christians  together  to  receive  the  farewell  message  of 
Mr.  Pigott.  A  Christian  woman  who  was  in  the  hospi- 
tal for  treatment  and  her  husband  Yen  Lai  Pao,  at  once 
invited  the  missionaries  to  their  homes  in  a  lowly  mount- 
ain village  a  long  day's  journey  away.  For  this  kindly 
service,  the  entire  family  of  this  Christian  man  and 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  243 

woman  were  hunted  down  through,  the  mountains,  cruel- 
ly tortured  and  slain  until  only  six  were  left  out  of  a 
large  number. 

It  was  Li  Pai,  who  guided  the  Christians  to  their  hid- 
ing place.  When  they  were  found  by  the  Boxers  and 
Mr.  Pigott  knew  that  there  was  no  longer  any  chance 
to  escape,  he  took  Li  Pai  aside  and  urged  him  to  leave 
at  once  for  the  province  of  Chihli,  knowing  that  in  this 
way  the  young  man  could  easily  escape;  but  Li  Pai  eaid, 
*'I  do  not  wish  to  leave  you.  Wherever  you  go,  I  am 
quite  willing  to  go.'*  Mr.  Pigott  still  urged  his  faithful 
friend  to  leave  because  he  could  not  help  by  remaining. 
Li  Pai  protested.  Then  Mr.  Pigott  said  firmly,  ''You 
must  go."  Thus  forbidden  to  accompany  the  mission- 
aries, who  were  compelled  to  return  to  Shou  Yang,  Li 
Pai  followed  at  a  distance  until  he  saw  them  enter  the 
city  gate  about  midnight.  Then  he  took  refuge  in  an  emp- 
ty shed  by  day  and  stole  out  at  night  to  enquire  about  his 
beloved  friends.  For  several  days,  he  had  nothing  to 
eat  except  grass  and  a  little  unripe  grain  which  he  gath- 
ered. Hearing  that  the  missionaries  were  to  be  sent  to 
Tai  Yuan  Fu,  he  stationed  himself  on  the  road  that  he 
might  get  a  glimpse  of  them.  He  followed  them  all  the 
way,  traveling  by  nig'ht  to  avoid  discovery.  Then  he  hid 
outside  the  city,  drawn  by  his  love  for  the  missionaries 
to  risk  all  in  order  to  be  near  them  and  to  know  their 
fate.  At  last  all  the  missionaries  were  cruelly  murdered. 
For  two  days,  Li  Pai  wandered  aimlessly  about,  stunned 
with  grief  and  then  made  his  way  to  Chihli  Provinctj 


244  MODERN   BAPTIST 

after  seven  wreary  weeks  of  wandering.  After  the  storm 
was  over,  he  met  Dr.  Edw^ds  In  Tsientsin  and  told  him 
of  the  death  of  his  sister,  Mrs.  Pigott.  It  was  the  last 
pathetic  service  which  he  could  render  to  those  Whojii 
he  loved. 

FAITHFUL  WITNESSES. 

Many  of  these  Christians  suffered  death  because  of 
their  fidelity  in  witnessing  for  Christ.  One  of  these 
was  Choa  Hsi  Mao,  who  was  so  well  known  as  a  Christian 
that  his  friends  urged  him  to  leave  his  home,  and  seek 
a  hiding  place,  but  he  refused  to  flee.  In  July,  the 
Boxers  seized  him  with  his  nineteen  year  old  wife,  his 
mother  and  his  sister,  placed  them  bound  upon  a  cart 
w^hile  their  home  was  going  up  in  smoke.  Though  they 
knew  that  they  were  on  their  way  to  the  martyr's  death, 
they  sang  together  the  hymn,  ''He  Leadeth  Me"  and  their 
hearts  were  strengthened  as  they  sang: 

''E'en  death's  cold  wave,  I  will  not  flee 
Since  God  through  Jordan  leadeth  me." 

When  they  reached  a  vacant  spot  outside  their 
own  village,  they  were  taken  from  the  cart.  The  man 
was  first  beheaded  with  a  huge  knife  used  for  cutting 
straw.  Still  the  faith  of  the  women  did  not  fail  them. 
They  would  not  recant.  The  old  mother  said,  "You 
have  killed  my  son.  You  can  kill  me,"  and  the  cruel 
knife  did  its  work.   The  sister  and  the  young  wife  were 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  245 

still  steadfast  and  the  sister  said,  "My  brother  and  moth- 
er arc  dead.  Kill  me  too.  I  will  not  recant."  When 
only  the  young  wife  was  left,  she  pointed  to  the  three 
bodies  saying,  ''You  have  killed  my  husband,  my  mother 
and  sister;  I  will  go  with  them,"  and  she  t-oo  was  num- 
bered wdth  the  martyr  roll. 

Another  man  of  considerable  influence  and  distinction, 
because  he  had  been  conspicuous  in  preaching  Christ  to 
his  neighbors,  was  Mr.  Hsi,  wiio  was  seized  by  the  Boxers. 
He  was  bound  and  taken  to  a  temple  where  he  vras  com- 
manded to  bow  to  the  Boxer  leader.  He  replied,  "I  am  a 
child  of  God.  I  wall  not  kneel  to  devils."  In  a  great 
rage,  the  leader  ordered  him  to  be  beaten.  Prone  on  the 
ground,  with  blows  falling  on  his  body,  he  still  refused 
lo  kneel.  His  hands  and  feet  were  bound  together  be- 
hind him  and  slung  on  a  pole,  he  was  carried  outside 
the  village  and  put  to  death  by  the  sword.  Tw^  of  his 
friends  had  been  tried  in  the  village  temple  and  the 
Boxers  had  decreed  that  they  must  die  unless  they 
recanted.  This  they  at  once  refused  to  do.  They  were 
carried  to  the  spot  where  Mr.  Hsi's  body  lay  and  givea 
a  last  chance  to  renounce  Christianity,  but,  loyal  to 
their  Master,  they  chose  to  die. 

Another  faithful  witness  was  Mr.  Chou,  who  had 
been  placed  in  charge  of  a  village  chapel.  On  the  ap- 
proach of  danger,  his  friends  urged  him  to  leave,  but  he 
said,  "I  have  been  appointed  to  this  station  and  I  shall 
not  desert  my  post."  He  even  sent  a  message  to  the 
magistrate  saying  that  if  the  Christians  were  in  fault, 


246  MODERN  BAPTIST. 

he  was  responsible  and  asking  that  if  it  was  necessary 
he  should  be  punished  and  that  the  others  might  go  un- 
molested. The  storm  broke  over  the  little  company 
in  the  chapel  just  at  the  close  of  service.  A  few  of  them 
escaped  in  the  confusion.  Others  were  captured  and 
killed  on  the  spot.  The  Boxers  dragged  the  evangelist 
into  the  main  street  and  beat  him  until  he  lay  uncon- 
scious. When  he  regained  consciousness,  he  arose 
to  his  knees,  when  a  voice  cried  out,  ''See,  he  is  praying 
even  now.  Drag  him  to  the  fire.'^  He  stretched  out 
his  hands  towards  the  burning  chapel  and  said,  ''You 
need  not  drag  me.  I  will  go."  Quietly,  he  walked  into 
the  burning  building  and  its  blazing  ruins  fell  about  his 
devoted  head. 

Another  Christian,  by  the  name  of  Kao,  was  hunted 
out  and  his  house  set  on  fire.  While  it  was  burning, 
he  was  taken  to  the  city  for  trial.  "Why  did  you  join 
the  church,"  asked  the  Boxer  chief.  He  replied,  "Because 
it  is  good."  "Why,  then  do  you  injure  people?"  He 
said,  "We  do  not  harm  any  one."  "Well,"  said  the 
chief,  "if  you  will  leave  this  foreign  sect  and  worship 
Buddha,  we  will  let  you  go."  But  with  marvelous  cour- 
age he  refused  to  deny  his  Lord  and  while  the  ruins 
of  the  little  chapel  were  still  smouldering,  he  was  thrown 
into  the  fire  and  soon  his  wife's  ashes  lay  with  his.  Three 
other  members  of  his  family  were  numbered  with  the 
martyrs. 

Time  fails  to  tell  the  story  of  the  record  of  all  these 
brave  Christians  connected  with  our  English  Baptist  Mis- 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  247 

eion  in  Shansi.    One  more  striking  example  must  suf- 
fice. 

A  man  by  the  name  of  Wang,  who  had  been  a  reck- 
less, wicked  man,  a  gambler  and  opium  smoker,  had 
been  converted  and  was  well  known  for  the  remarkable 
change  which  had  taken  place  in  his  life.  He  went  out 
as  a  colporter  to  sell  books  and  in  all  the  region  ho 
was  known  as  a  Christian.  The  Boxers  seized  him 
and,  bleeding  from  many  s^vord  cuts,  he  was  carried 
for  .a  so-called  trial  to  the  military  ''yamen,"  or  court. 

A  man  in  the  crowd  said,  "We  know  that  you  were 
formerly  a  bad  character,  but  that  you  have  reformed. 
Only  leave  the  foreign  sect  and  you  will  not  be  killed." 
Other  voices  joined  in  urging  him  to  escape  death  by 
leaving  the  ''foreign  sect.''  He  said,  '*I  have  already 
left  the  foreign  sect  (meaning  by  that  Buddhism)  and 
now  follow  the  Heavenly  doctrine  and  worship  the 
Supreme  Ruler  and  believe  in  Jesus  Christ."  With 
many  words,  he  witnessed  to  the  one  true  God  before 
the  crowd.  At  last,  the  Boxer  leader  cried  out  impa- 
tiently, "He  will  not  leave  the  religion  of  the  for- 
eigners. Let  him  be  killed."  Outside  the  west  gate  of 
the  city,  with  barbarous  cruelty,  he  was  put  to  death, 
bearing  witness  to  the  last  to  the  Savior's  power  to  re- 
deem ruined  lives. 

THE   BOXERS   AND   OUR  OWN   WORK 

The  part  of  our  work  which  was  most  affected  by 
the  Boxer  uprising  waa  our  North  China   Mission  in 


248  MODERN  BAPTIST 

Stantung  Province.  In  this  province,  no  foreign  mis- 
sionaries were  slain  and  only  a  few  native  Christians 
suffered  martyrdom.  This  was  due  mainly  to  two 
causes — ^the  notorious  Yu  Hsien  had  been  removed  to 
Shansi  Pro\dnce  and  in  his  place  Yuan  Shi  Kai  'had 
been  appointed  governor.  The  latter,  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  of  the  Chinese  viceroys,  has  been  the  leader 
of  the  modern  educational  and  other  reform  movements 
and  was  a  disciple  of  the  famous  Li  Hung  Chang.  He 
stopped  the  dreadful  work  of  destruction  which  had  al- 
ready been  started  by  his  predecessor  and  with  m-arvel- 
ous  courage,  ch'anged  the  imperial  edict  which  read, 
''Kill  the  Foreigners"  to  read  ''Protect  the  Foreigners" 
and  had  it  posted  throughout  the  province.  It  is  impos- 
ible  to  estimate  the  number  of  lives  that  were  thus  sav- 
ed by  his  courage. 

Then,  -too,  our  United  States  consul  at  Chefoo,  Hon. 
John  Fowler,  was  a  faithful  and  watchful  friend  to  the 
.missionaries.  He  advised  all  of  them  on  the  approach  of 
danger  to  take  refuge  in  the  port  cities,  where  they 
would  be  under  the  protection  of  the  foreign  war  vessels. 
At  his  own  personal  risk,  he  chartered  two  steamers  at 
the  rate  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  day  each 
to  go  up  the  coast  from  Chefoo  to  bring  down  the  mis- 
sionaries to  that  city.  Dr.  Hartwell  bears  personal  tes- 
timony to  the  readiness  which  the  consul,  Mr.  Fowler, 
ever  manifested  to  do  what  he  could  in  behalf  of  both 
missionaries  and  native  Christians.  It  is  worthy  of  men- 
tion also,  that  Mr.  J.  F.  Seaman,  of  Shanghai,  whose 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS  249 

wife  is  tlie  daughter  of  Mrs.  ^Matthew  T.  Yates,  placed 
his  bungalow  in  Chefoo  at  the  disposal  of  the  consul  for 
the  use  of  the  missionary  refugees,  the  only  condition 
being  that  a  place  should  be  reserved  for  our  Southern 
Baptist  missionaries. 

Another  bright  page  in  the  history  of  those  dark 
days  is  the  record  of  the  generosity  of  some  of  our 
Chinese  Baptist  churches  in  California.  Let  us  hear 
the  story  in  the  words  of  the  veteran  missionary.  Dr.  J. 
B.  Hartwell. 

''Soon  after  the  news  of  the  persecutions  of  Christians 
in  Shantung  reached  America,  our  dear  Chinese  brethren 
in  San  Francisco  and  Oakland  among  whom  it  had  been 
my  privilege  '  to  preach  tlhe  Gospel  for  many  years, 
promptly  and  unsolicited,  collected  and  sent  to  me  for 
the  relief  of  persecuted  Baptists  in  this  province  one  hun- 
dred Mexican  dollars.  Later  they  sent  me  two  hundred 
and  thirty-eight  dollars  and  fifty  cents  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. This  seemed  to  me  one  of  the  most  beautiful  fruits 
of  our  blessed  religion;  that  these  few  converts  from 
heathenism,  as  soon  as  they  heard  of  the  persecutions  of 
tiieir  brethren,  not  one  of  .whom  they  had  ever  seen  or  ex- 
pected to  see  in  this  life,  without  solicitation  from  any 
living  man,  but,  'as  moved  by  the  spirit  of  Christian  love, 
collected  together  promptly  and  sent  forvvmrd  between 
three  and  four  hundred  dollars  for  their  temporal 
relief." 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  stories  of  Christian 
Jieroism   connected  with   those  d^rk   days  is  told  .of 


250  MODERN  BAPTIST' 

Mrs.  Wong  Gi  Pin.  She  was  a  widow  of  a  noble  Chinese 
brother  whose  liberality  had  started  and  maintained  a 
school  at  Tengchow.  Mr.  Wong  was  cared  for  when 
a  poor  child  by  one  of  the  lady  missionaries,  who  had 
been  compelled  for  some  reason  to  return  to  this  country. 
While  he  lived,  knowing  of  the  needy  condition  of  his 
benefactress,  he  repeatedly  sent  her  most  liberal  gifts 
of  mioney  'and  when  about  to  die,  one  of  the  last  charges 
he  left  with  his  wife  was  that  she  should  take  care  of 
his  benefactress.  Only  a  short  time  before  the  Boxer 
outbreak,  she  had  sent  money  to  this  lady  in  America. 
During  the  bombardment  of  Tsientsin,  where  she  re- 
sided, shells  were  bursting  -all  around  her  and  a  portion 
of  one,  breaking  through  her  roof,  whizzed  by  her  head 
and  struck  the  table  beside  which  ^e  was  sitting.  Of 
course,  she  had  to  flee.  She  had  about  two  hundred 
dollars  with  which  to  pay  her  way  and  that  of  her 
household  to  Ohefoo.  On  her  way  to  the  steamer,  she 
was  robbed  of  her  money  and  left  without  a  penny 
with  which  to  make  her  escape.  Fortunately,  the  head 
of  the  English  firm  where  her  husband  had  been  em- 
ployed for  many  years,  was  an  excellent  Christian  man 
and  gave  her  help  in  her  extremity.  He  saw  her  safe 
on  board  of  a  vessel  for  Chefoo  'and  furnished  means 
for  the  transportation  of  herself  and  household.  Her 
houses  in  Tsientsin  were  destroyed  and  all  of  the  money 
which  she  had  in  the  bank  was  lost.  With  a  beautiful 
resignation,  she  endured  her  losses,  thankful  to  God 
that  the  lives  of  her  family  had  been  preserved  and  that 


HEROES  AND  MARTRYS  251 

she  was  led  to  send  the  money  to  America  when  she 
did.  She  said,  "If  I  had  not  done  it  then,  I  could 
not  do  it  now."  After  the  outbreak  was  over,  she  was 
eble  to  recuperate  to  some  extent  her  shattered  fortune 
and  continued  her  good  work. 

While  the  native  Christians  suffered  the  severest 
persecution  in  some  parts  of  the  field,  only  a  few  of 
them  were  killed.  They  were  bound,  beaten,  robbed  and 
imprisoned.  Many  of  them  took  refuge  in  the  grain 
fields  and  others  fled  to  the  mountains  to  escape  the 
cruel  Boxers,  but  in  the  midst  of  it  all,  almost  without 
exception,  they-  remained  faithful.  Many  of  them  seemed 
to  be  inspired  with  the  same  heroic  spirit  as  that  which 
was  manifested  by  Pastor  Li,  a  man  who  is  still  doing 
5uch  a  wonderful  work  in  the  Pingtu  Mission.  He  had 
5one  with  the  missionaries  to  Tsingtau  and  was  entirely 
safe,  but  he  could  not  rest  contented.  He  said,  ''I  will 
return  to  my  brethren.  If  they  suffer,  I  will  suffer  too. 
If  they  die,  I  will  die  with  them."  He  went  back  to 
bis  field  where  he  continued  almost  constantly  to  preach 
and  baptize  believers. 

We  have  on  record  the  account  of  only  two  of  our 
Baptists  in  Shantung,  who  suffered  martyrdom.  One  of 
these  was  an  evangelist  by  the  name  of  Wu.  At  a 
time  when  all  was  quiet  in  Tengchow,  one  of  the  mis- 
sionaries, passing  along  the  street,  saw  a  strange  man 
preaching  to  a  crowd  which  had  gathered  around  him. 
The  missionary  stopped  and  listened,  was  pleased  at 
what  the  man  said  and  inquired  of  him  who  he  waa 


252  MODERN  BAPTIST 

and  whence  he  had  learned  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  He 
answered  that  his  name  was  Wu,  that  about  four  years 
before  that  time,  he  had  been  baptized  by  missionary 
Sears  near  Pingtu,  and  that  of  his  own  accord,  he  had 
started  out  with  his  Bible  to  preach,  begging  his  way 
as  he  went.  The  missionary  took  him  to  the  home  of 
Dr.  Hartwell  and  after  carefully  examining  him,  they 
became  satisfied  that  his  story  was  true.  He  could  tell 
all  about  the  missionaries  and  their  work  and  told  Dr. 
Hartwell  that  he  had  been  present  at  the  Association  the 
fall  before  when  it  met  in  Pingtu  and  had  heard  Dr. 
Hartwell  preach.  He  remained  in  Dr.  Hartwell's  home  for 
some  days,  hearing  the  truth  as  it  was  preached  in  the 
chapel  and  helping  in  the  work.  Then  it  was  necessary 
for  Dr.  Hartwell  to  take  refuge  in  'Chefoo  and  he  ad- 
vised the  evangelist  to  escape.  Dr.  Hartwell  supplied 
him  with  a  little  money  and  with  some  books  and  bade 
him  good-bye,  believing  'him  to  be  an  earnest  Christian, 
who  had  been  moved  by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  go  forth, 
preaching  the  Gospel  to  his  own  people.  Before  many 
days,  a  report  came  to  the  missionaries  in  Chefoo  that 
three  strangers  had  been  taken  up  in  a  village  between 
Tengchow  and  Chefoo,  one  of  whom  had  Christian 
books  and  confessed  himself  to  be  a  Christian,  while  the 
others  said  that  they  were  not  Christians,  but  were 
merely  traveling  with  this  Christian  man.  From  all 
that  the  missionaries  could  learn,  the  evangelist  was 
either  buried  alive,  or  cast,  bound  hand  and  foot,  into 
the  sda.    Wu  was  never  heard  of  aorain  and  the  misaon- 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  253 

aries  were  mire  that  he  was  the  man  who  had  suffered 
martyrdom. 

More  thrilling  still  is  the  story  of  the  aged  evangel- 
ist, Sun  Hwe  Teh.  He  was  a  native  pastor  in  charge  of 
the  Shang  Tswong  church  near  Hwanghien.  Notwith- 
standing the  disturbed  conditions  of  the  country,  he 
went  regularly  from  his  home  some  distance  away  to 
preach  at  the  church.  On  his  last  visit  to  the  church, 
he  stopped  at  tihe  home  of  a  young  brother  by  the  name 
of  Lin.  This  young  brother,  while  he  had  only  been 
baptized  a  year  previously,  had  passed  through  severe 
persecution.  While  he  was  absent  attending  church, 
a  band  of  Boxers  came  to  his  village  and  frightened  his 
wife  and  mother  so  that  they  fled  to  another 
village  under  the  cover  of  night,  one  of  them  being 
badly  hurt  in  their  flight.  On  his  return,  he  could  find 
no  trace  of  them  and  the  villagers  surrounded  and 
threatened  him.  An  armed  man  watched  at  his  back 
gate  by  ni^t  to  prevent  his  escape,  while  others  howled 
around  the  place.  He  saw  them  breaking  down  his  gate 
and  chopping  it  to  pieces.  He  finally  managed  to  es- 
cape and  ran  for  miles,  praying  ^all  the  time,  and  thus 
saved  himself.  When  quiet  was  restored  in  the  village, 
he  and  his  family  were  at  home  once  more  and  evan- 
gelist Sun  spent  several  nights  with  them.  As  he  was 
going  on,  he  tried  to  persuade  Mr.  Lin  to  go  with  him, 
but  his  wife  begged  him  to  remain  at  home  to  take  care 
of  the  family.     ''Fortunately,"  he  says,  ''I  listened  to 


254  MODERN  BAPTIST 

ray  wife's  words  and  so  escaped  a  fate  like  that  of  Sun 
Hwe  Teh." 

The  old  evangelist  went  on  to  his  appointment  at 
Shang  Tswong  and  returning,  spent  the  night  at  an 
inn.  While  it  was  not  necessary  for  him  to  make  known 
that  he  was  a  'Christian,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  tell  the 
people  that  he  was  an  evangelist.  Next  morning,  he 
started  on  his  way,  but  was  followed  by  the  innkeeper 
and  the  head  of  the  clan  and  taken  back.  His  traveling 
bag  was  searched.  Sun  w^as  a  sort  of  a  doctor.  He  had 
learned  something  of  simple  remedies  from  the  mission- 
aries and  carried  medicines  with  him  to  relieve  the  suf- 
ferings of  his  people. 

It  is  necessary  to  say  that  bands  of  men  employed 
by  the  Boxers  had  been  going  through  the  country, 
smearing  blood  upon  the  doors  of  certain  people  and 
the  superstition  prevailed  that  people  whose  doors  were 
smeared  vdih  blood,  unless  they  would  take  an  antidote 
prescribed  by  the  Boxers,  would  go  crazy  and  kill  them- 
selves within  seven  days.  These  same  men  had  also  been 
hired  to  put  poison  into  the  wells  of  the  people  and  both 
of  these  things  had  been  laid  to  the  charge  of  the  Christ- 
ians in  order  that  the  Boxers  might  have  some  pretext 
for  persecuting  and  killing  them. 

They  found  in  the  bag  of  the  old  evangelist  a  little 
santonine,  which  is  a  very  popular  medicine  among 
the  Chinese.  They  found  also  several  kinds  of  little 
pills.  They  charged  that  the  santonine  was  for  poison- 
ing the  wells  and  that  the  little  pills  were  blood  for 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  255 

smearing  on  doors.  The  old  man's  hands  were  tied 
behind  him  and  he  was  hung  up  by  his  hands  thus  bent 
back  of  him  and  a  heavy  stone  was  tied  to  his  feet  to  in- 
crease his  torture.  They  hoped  in  this  way  to  force 
him  to  recant.  During  the  day,  he  was  let  down  and 
at  night  he  was  hung  up  again.  He  was  kept  in  this 
torture  for  three  days.  Then  he  begged  to  be  allowed  to 
hire  some  men  to  go  to  his  home  which  was  about  twenty 
miles  away  and  to  bring  someone  to  identify  him  and 
give  security  for  his  character.  When  the  men  from 
his  village  arrived,  he  was  allowed  to  go  free,  but  he  was 
in  such  a  condition  that  he  could  not  walk  and  had  to 
be  carried  to  his  home  in  a  shentze.  When  he  reached 
home,  his  friends  found  that  the  wounds  on  his  Avrists 
from  the  cutting  of  the  ropes  and  the  bums  which  had 
been  inflicted  on  his  hands  had  become  infected  and 
blood  poisoning  had  set  in.  Dr.  Hartwell,  hearing  of  liis 
condition  from  a  ^andson,  who  had  been  sent  to  Chefoo 
with  the  news,  had  the  old  man  brought  to  the  mission 
hospital  in  Chefoo.  where  everything  that  medical  skill 
could  accomplish  was  done  for  him.  They  feared  that 
he  would  lose  his  hands  and  his  body  was  covered  with 
bruises  from  kicks  which  he  had  received.  The  old 
man  suffered  patiently,  but  did  not  seem  to  improve. 
Many  of  the  missionaries  visited  him,  talked  with  him 
to  try  to  bring  him  some  comfort  and  prayed  with  him. 
His  strength  gradually  gave  way  and  on  the  morning 
of  the  first  of  August,  at  four  o'clock,  the  old  man's 
grandson  came  to  Dr.  HartwelFs  window  to  tell  him  that 


256  MODERN  BAPTIST 

bis  grandfather  had  just  passed  peacefull}^  away.  Thus, 
th-e  aged  evangelist  joined  that  noble  company  of  mar- 
tyrs who  have  witnessed  for  the  Master  throughout  the 
ages. 

'^Vhen  at  last  the  awful  persecution  had  been  brought 
to  an  end  and  the  missionaries  were  permitted  to  return 
to  their  fields,  many  were  the  pathetic  meetings  between 
them  and  the  native  brethren  to  whom  they  were  devot- 
ing their  lives.  At  the  first  service  in  Tengchow,  the 
son  of  the  old  evangelist  was  present  and  though  his 
father  had  been  martyred  and  his  family  had  suffered 
greatly,  he  could  join  in  praise  to  God  for  His  goodness. 
In  recounting  the  trials  through  which  they  had  passed, 
one  of  the  native  Christians  was  heard  to  say,  ''"WTiat- 
ever  happens,  Christ  will  be  King  in  China." 

Thus,  our  Baptist  brethren  in  that  far  off  land  sealed 
their  faith  with  their  blood.  The  mouths  of  those  who 
had  called  them  ^'Rice  Christians"  were  forever  shut,  and 
among  their  own  people  their  heroism  and  willingness 
to  die  for  the  faith  has  had  a  wonderful  effect  and  now 
thousands  of  them  are  turning  to  the  Savior  and  joining 
the  ranks  of  those  whom  they  formerly  persecuted. 
William  H.  Smith,  D.D., 

Richmond,  Va. 


JOHN  CLIFFORD, 

HERO  OF  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY. 

For  the  twenty-ninth  time  John  Clifford  has  gone 
before  the  miagistrate  to  make  protest  against  paying  the 
tax  under  the  famous  (and  infamous)  Education  Act  of 
1902  whereby  Nonconformists  are  compelled  to  support 
priestly  and  popish  teaching  in  the  schools  of  England. 
It  is  an  outrageous  situation.  Real  Protestants  in  Eng- 
land object  to  the  teaching  and  cannot  endure  to  have 
to  pay  to  have  their  children  taught  what  they  spurn 
as  heresy.  It  is  intolerable  to  ever^^  lover  of  liberty  in 
the  world.  Mr.  A.  J.  Balfour,  when  premier  of  Great 
Britain,  put  through  Parliament  this  iniquitous  act 
with  the  great  majority  secured  by  the  Consen^ative 
party  during  the  Boer  War.  The  nation  had  no  chance 
to  express  it?elf  on  the  question  till  the  wrong  was  done. 
Mr.  Balfour  ridiculed  the  Nonconformists  and  jeered  at 
their  helplessness.  To  keep  still  would  be  to  see  the 
children  of  England  taught  popish  practices.  In  the 
end  it  would  mean  the  death  of  real  freedom  and  the 
triumph  of  ecclesiasticism.  There  were  many  voices 
raised  in  protest.  Men  were  not  slow  to  see  how  much 
was  at  stake.     But  it  was  Dr.  John  Clifford,  pastor  of 


258  MODERN  BAPTIST 

the  Westbourne  Park  Chapel,  London,  who  gave  ex- 
pression to  the  deepest  feelings  of  the  people  on  this 
su'bject.  He  had  been  getting  ready  for  this  crisis  all 
his  life  and  soon  his  voice  rang  out  with  tremendous 
power  all  over  England.  He  organized  the  'Tassive 
Resistance  Movement'^  along  with  Sir  George  White  and 
others,  which  gave  tangible  shape  to  the  protest  of  the 
people.  Men  and  ministers  went  to  jail  rather  than 
pay  the  stipend  for  ecclesiastical  tyranny.  Others  suf- 
fered distraint  of  their  goods  which  were  seized  by  the 
sheriff  to  pay  the  unjust  tax.  There  were  those  in 
plenty  who  wished  peace  at  any  price  and  favored  ac- 
quiescence. Others  grew  weary  in  the  struggle,  which 
lingered  on,  but  John  Clifford  made  his  voice  heard 
as  he  led  the  clans  and  called  for  volunteers  in  this  he- 
roic battle  with  ecclesiasticismi  entrenched  in  centuries 
of  pride  and  power.  It  was  a  strange  and  a  majestic 
sight  in  the  opening  years  of  the  twentieth  century  to 
see  the  forces  of  progress  in  a  death-grapple  with  the 
legions  of  reaction  in  England,  the  leader  of  the  na- 
fions  of  earth.  One  had  to  rub  his  eyes  to  see  if  he 
were  not  in  the  days  of  Hampden  and  of  Crom^well. 

Finally  the  cloud  burst  on  the  heads  of  the  Tories 
and  Campbell-Bannerman  cam'e  into  power  in  the  early 
days  of  1906  with  a  flood.  The  Liberals  had  never  had 
such  a  majority.  It  was  the  answer  of  the  people  to 
Balfour's  Education  Act.  Passive  Resistance  had  done 
its  work.  The  masses  had  a  chance  to  vent  their  wTath 
at  the  spectacle  of  ministers  of  Christ  in  jail  in  Eng- 


JOHN   CLIFFORD. 


(259) 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  261 

land  in  the  twentieth  century  because  they  would  not 
pay  for  ecclesiastical  tyranny.  The  conscience  of  Eng- 
land had  responded  to  the  Baptist  conscience  as  it  was 
personified  in  John  Clifford.  At  heart  the  English  peo- 
ple are  sound  and  liberty-loving.  Many  of  the  battles 
for  human  progress  have  been  fought  on  English  soil. 
This  was  a  belated  one,  an  anachronism  in  reality  due 
to  the  English  love  of  conservatism.  Hopee  ran  high 
on  this  great  victory  and  Dr.  Clifford  w^as  the  hero  of 
the  triumph.  It  was  recognized  on  all  sides  that  he 
had  made  this  victory  possible.  When  the  Baptist 
World  Alliance  was  formed  in  July,  1905,  in  London, 
it  was  the  delight  of  that  great  body  to  elect  Dr.  Clifford 
as  its  president.  His  every  appearance  was  the  signal 
for  unbounded  enthusiasm.  Here  was  a  man  w^ho  was 
battling  against  immeasura;ble  difficulties.  The  task 
seemed  hopeless,  but  Dr.  Clifford  was  dauntless.  His 
courage  was  contagious.  So  he  battled  on  and  others 
followed.  Once  again  the  high  hopes  of  the  Liberals 
w^ere  doomed  to  disappointment.  The  Liberals  came  into 
power  pledged  to  a  reform  of  the  Education  Act.  Un- 
fortunately there  were  diversities  of  sentiment  among 
them  as  to  the  precise  nature  of  the  reform.  But, 
finally,  a  new  act,  w'hich  removed  the  chief  iniquities 
of  the  Balfour  act,  pav?sed  the  House  of  Commons  by  a 
good  majority.  The  problem  had  been  how  to  recon- 
cile those  who  wished  no  religious  teaching  at  ail  in  the 
schools  and  those  who  wished  the  simple  Scripture  facts 
aiad  fundamental  principles  given.     It    was    a    knotty 


262  MODERN  BAPTIST 

question,  but  the  solution  was  not  hopeless.  The  House 
of  Lords,  however,  relieved  the  Liberals  of  their  troubles 
by  throwing  out  the  bill.  The  appeal  to  the  country 
brought  the  Liberals  back,  but  the  result  w^as  the  same. 
A  great  constitutional  problem:  was  at  last  raised  by  the 
Budget  of  David  Lloyd-George  (another  great  Baptist 
champion  of  liberty,  now^  chancellor  of  the  exchequer) 
in  1909.  This  titanic  struggle  closed  after  another  tri- 
umphant appeal  to  the  country,  with  the  loss  of  the 
veto  power  by  the  House  of  Lords.  It  is  impossible  to 
over-estimate  the  significance  of  this  revolution  in  the 
British  Parliament.  Now  at  last  the  British  democracy 
can  give  expression  to  its  will  when  it  clashes  with  the 
ecclesiastical  aristocracy.  It  is  now  conceded  on  all 
sides  that  home  rule  for  Ireland,  Welsh  disestablish- 
ment, repeal  of  the  Education  Act  are  sure  to  com©  to 
pass  in  the  life  of  this  Parliament. 

In  no  little  measure  this  magnificent  consummation 
will  be  due  to  two  great  Baptist  statesmen,  John  Clifford 
and  David  Lloyd-George.  I  call  Dr.  Clifford  a  states- 
man. He  is  one  of  the  greater  living  statesmen  in  his 
grasp  of  the  fundamental  questions  of  religious  liberty. 
He  is  a  statesman  as  John  the  Baptist  was  when  he  cried 
out  against  the  narrow  ecclesiastical  assumptions  of  th@ 
Pharisees  and  Sadducees  who  prided  themselves  on 
having  Abraham  as  their  father.  He  is  a  statesman  as 
Paul  was  when  he  stood  for  the  freedom  of  the  Gentile 
Christians  from  the  weak  and  beggarly  elements  of  the 
ceremonial  law  and  would  not  yield,   no,  not  for  an 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  263 

hour,  to  allow  Titus  to  be  circumcised.  He  is  a  state»- 
man  in  his  powerful  grasp  of  the  principles  at  stake  and 
in  his  ability  to  project  his  conception  upon  the  public 
mind.  I  heard  him  speak  on  John  Bunyan  on  Elstow 
Green  at  Bedford,  in  July,  1905,  and  it  was  a  mem- 
orable occasion.  One  felt  that  here  was  a  man  who 
would  gladly  go  to  jail  rather  than  surrender  one  iota 
of  what  he  held  dearer  than  life.  Dr.  Clifford  gripped 
the  conscience  and  fired  the  imagination  of  Britain's 
freemen  as  few  men  of  this  generation  have  done.  Some 
of  the  delegates  to  that  first  Alliance  spoke  one  evening 
in  Westbourne  Park  Chapel  and  it  was  one  of  the  proud- 
est occasions  of  our  lives  to  stand  on  the  platform  from 
which  John  Clifford  had  sent  forth  his  clarion  calls  to 
biattle. 

Let  us  hope  that  our  hero  will  live  to  see  the  repeal 
of  the  Education  Act.  That  will  be  his  crown,  when 
it  comes,  whether  he  lives  to  see  it  or  not.  His  hemi;  is 
still  strong  at  seventy-five.  His  voice  rang  forth  with 
tremendous  force  in  Philadelphia  in  June,  1911,  in  his 
great  presidential  address  before  the  Baptist  World  Al- 
liance. The  audience  gave  him  the  ovation  of  his  life- 
time. In  this  address  at  Philadelphia  Dr.  Clifford 
spoke  of  having  just  received  a  summons  from  the  sher- 
iff for  payment  of  the  rate  under  the  Education  Act. 
He  was  in  a  land  where  such  things  are  not  done,  but 
Dr.  Clifford  said  with  spirit  that  they  could  sell  his 
goods  or  send  him  to  jail,  but  he  would  not  pay  the 
rate.     It  is  well  to  give  a  sample  of  this  wonderful  apol- 


264  MODERN  BAPTIST 

ogetic  by  Dr.  Clifford  at  PhiladelDhia  as  showing  the 
temper  of  the  man: 

'^But  this  organization  is  a  Worid  Alliance  of  Bap- 
tists, and  that  means  that  the  catholic  principles  on 
which  we  base  ourselves  we  derive  straight  from  Jesus, 
are  accepted  on  His  authority,  and  involve  in  all  who 
accept  them  total  subjection  of  soul  to  His  gracious  and 
benignant  rule.  He  is  Lord  of  'all,  and  He  only  is 
Lord  of  all.  Our  conception  of  Christ's  authority  is  ex- 
clusive. We  refuse  to  everybody  and  e\^erything  the 
slightest  share  in  it.  It  is  absolute,  unlimited,  indefea- 
sible, admits  of  no  question,  and  allows  no  rival.  The 
right  to  rule  in  the  religious  life  is  in  Him  and  in  no 
other,  be  he  as  saintly  as  St.  Francis,  as  devout  as  St. 
Bernard,  as  loving  as  John,  or  as  practical  as  Paul;  not 
in  any  offices,  papal,  episcopal  or  ministerial,  not  in  tra- 
dition, though  it  may  interpret  the  goings  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  and  illustrate  the  effects  of  obedience  and  dis- 
obedience ;  not  in  the  Old  Testament  not  yet  in  the  New, 
though  their  working  values  are  great,  since  they  enable 
us  to  know  His  mind,  understand  His  laws  of  conduct, 
and  partake  more  freely  of  His  Spirit;  not  in  the  long 
annals  of  the  life  of  the  church  or  the  agreement  of 
"the  whole  church"  at  one  special  moment;  yet  we  wel- 
come the  illumination  churc'h  history  affords  of  His  ad- 
ministration of  the  social  life  of  His  people,  of  its  aim 
and  spirit,  of  its  difficulties  and  hindrances,  and  of  the 
sufficiency  of  His  grace.    Jesus  Christ  holds  with  us  the 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  265 

first  place  and  the  last.     His  word  is  final.     His  rule  is 
supreme. 

"In  short,  the  deepest  impulse  of  Baptisft  life  has 
been  the  upholding  of  the  sole  and  exclusive  authority 
of  Chris>t  Jesus  against  all  possible  encroachment  from 
churches,  from  sections  of  churc'hes,  from  the  whole 
church  at  any  special  moment  of  its  life  and  action,  as 
in  a  council,  from  the  traditions  of  the  elders,  from  the 
exegesis  of  scholars,  and  from  the  interesting  but  need- 
less theories  of  philosophers.  'It  is  the  momentum  of 
that  one  cardinal  idea  which  has  swept  us  along  to  our 
present  position. 

''And  now  it  follows  upon  that,  that  the  ideas  to 
which  we  give  witness  root  themselves,  first  in  the  teach- 
ing of  the  New  Testament,  and  secondly  in  the  soul's 
experience  of  Christ." 

His  spirit  is  unconquerable  and  his  optimism  is 
grounded  in  God.  He  flings  the  banner  of  religious 
liberty  full  before  the  breeze  and  proudly  scorns  tolera- 
tion as  intolerance. 

Dr.  Clifford  has  become  the  incarnate  protest  against 
ecclesiastical  tyranny.  He  is  hated  and  feared  by  all 
lovers  of  priest-craft.  He  has  caught  T\4th  all  his  might 
the  Baptist  message  and  he  sounds  it  out  before  all  the 
world.  He  is  born  of  the  stuff  of  which  martyrs  are 
made.  He  is  not  a  rich  man,  but  he  keeps  a  hospitable 
home,  as  his  friends  know.  But  the  sheriff  may  come 
and  keep  on  coming  till  he  has  robbed  his  home  of  all 
its  treasures  before  this  lion  will  cease  his  roaring.     He 


266  MODERN  BAPTIST 

will  conquer  or  die  in  this  war,  for  it  is  the  fight  for 
God  and  for  man.  The  rights  of  the  spirit  of  man  have 
a  magnificent  exponent  in  John  Clifford,  the  man  who 
has  done  more  than  any  one  else  to  rescue  modern 
England  from  the  grip  of  Rome.  Rome  is  still  on  the 
rates,  but  Rome  will  soon  be  off  the  rates  and  will  stay 
off. 

A.  T.  Robertson,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

Louisville,  Ky. 


LAYING  FOUNDATIONS  IN  MODERN  MEXICO. 

John  0.  Westrup  was  the  first  missionary  employed 
in  Mexico  by  the  Foreign  Mission  Board  of  the  Southern 
Baptist  Convention,  and  in  1880,  a  few  months  after 
he  began  his  labors,  he  was  murdered  by  fanatical  Mex- 
icans and  Indians  near  ProgressK),  Coahuila. 

Elder  James  Hickey,  a  faithful  Baptist  minister,  was 
the  first  person  to  prea^ih  the  Gospel  and  establish 
churches  on  Mexican  soil.  As  Carey  was  the  Apostle  of 
India,  Judson  of  Burm'ah,  Morrison  of  Cliina,  Schmidt 
of  Africa,  Hickey  was  of  Mexico. 

He  was  born  in  Ireland  and  was  a  staunch  Romanist. 
He  married  a  godly  Baptist  woman,  and  through  her 
efiForts  he  was  converted  and  began  to  preach  in  lim- 
erick, Ireland.  His  wife  died  and  he  came  to  the  United 
States  and  lived  awhile  in  Missouri  and  then  went  to 
Texas.  Rev.  W.  D.  Johnson,  who  laid  the  foundation 
for  Baptist  w^ork  southwest  of  San  Antonio,  was  con- 
verted by  him. 

In  1861  he  was  forced  to  leave  West  Texas  because 
of  his  abolition  sentiments  and  take  refuge  in  Mexico. 
He  fled  from  one  war  to  become  an  active  participant  in 
another  war,  between  truth  and  error,  which  was  far 
more  important. 


268  MODERN  BAPTIST 

He  began  iiis  labors  in  Matamoros.  The  first  Biblea 
he  attempted  to  carry  into  Mexico  were  burned  in  the 
Custom  House  in  his  presence.  I  knew  well  the  man 
who  burned  them.  He  was  my  neighbor  in  Saltillo. 
Elder  Hickey  was  told  that  "Mexico  will  not  have  thia 
damnuble  book  on  her  soil."  The  first  Bibles  he  used 
were  carried  to  him  by  the  smugglers.  Bibles  now  go 
to  Mexico  by  the  car  load. 

In  1862  he  was  invited  by  the  Westrups,  an  honor- 
able English  family  lining  in  Monterrey,  to  visit  that 
city.  He  began  to  preach  and  the  Eomanists  kindled 
the  fires  of  persecution.  They  could  not  hold  two  ser- 
vices consecutively  in  the  same  house  for  fear  of  being 
murdered  by  the  infuriated  mobs,  who  rode  through 
the  streets  with  lariats  in  their  hands  to  hang  them.. 
The  Westrups  and  Urangas'  were  converted  and  on  Jan- 
nary  30th,  1864,  the  First  Baptist  church  of  Monterrey 
was  organized.  This  was  the  first  evangelical  church 
established  in  our  sister  republic.    - 

T.  M.  and  John  0.  Westrup  were  ordained  as  min- 
isters by  Brother  Hickey.  He  established  churches  in 
Cadareita,  Montemorelos,  Santa  Rosa  and  other  points. 
A  group  of  fanatics  in  Cadareita  determined  to  waylay 
and  murder  him  as  he  returned  to  Monterrey.  The 
Irish  are  not  accustomed  to  travel  on  horseback  and 
so  he  lost  his  way  and  did  not  pass  his  a^assins.  Not 
to  be  outdone  they  went  on  to  Monterrey,  found  where 
he  would  preach  that  night  and  secreted  themselves 
nearby,  resolved  to  stab  him  to  death.    But  the  leader 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  269 

was  deeply  convicted  tinder  the  sermon  and  went  weep- 
ing to  confess  his  intentions  to  Brother  Plickey.  The 
little  congregation  prayed  with  him  and  he  was  happily 
converted  and  for  more  than  forty  years  he  was  an 
honored  deacon,  in  whose  home  I  have  spent  many  a 
happy  hour. 

Brother  Hickey  was  pious,  incessant  in  labors  and 
endured  hardness  as  a  good  soldier.  He  died  December 
(>,  1866  in  Matamoros  and  his  body  sleeps  in  Browns- 
ville, Texas. 

The  Westrups  caught  the  zeal  and  abnegation  of 
their  leader  and  carried  for^^ard  the  work  amidst  fiery 
trials  and  unrelenting  persecutions.  No  one  would  give 
employment  to  a  Baptist.  Families  were  rent  asunder. 
One's  enemies  were  those  of  his  own  house. 

In  1860  we  heard  in  Texas  of  the  open  door  in 
^Mexico.  Through  the  labors  of  Jaurez,  Porfirio  Diaz, 
Bernardo  Reyes,  Madero  and  others,  the  power  of 
Rom'anism  had  been  overthrown.  Church  and  state  were 
separated,  the  convents  had  been  closed  as  "dens  of  in- 
iquity*' and  the  inmates  banished  as  '^pernicious  char- 
acters." Texas  Baptists  agreed  to  be  responsible  for  the 
salary  of  John  O.  Westrup,  if  the  Foreign  Board  would 
appoint  him.  He  labored  in  Coahuila.  He  sent  glorious 
reports  of  conversions,  baptisms  and  the  organization 
of  churches  at  Musquiz,  Progresso  and  other  points — 
then  there  was  an  ominous  silence.  There  were  no 
railroads  nor  even  telegraph  lines  at  that  time  from 
Texas  to  Mexico.     The  border  on  either  side  of  the 


270  MODERN  BAPTIST 

Rio  Grande  was  in'fested  with  robbers,  cut-throat  Amer- 
icans and  Mexicans   and  wild  Indians. 

Word  came  to  us  in  December  that  John  0.  "VVest- 
rup  had  been  murdered.  At  the  suggestion  of  brethren 
in  Texas  I  hired  two  men  and  wenit  to  ascertain  the 
true  facts,  and  mv  father  took  his  trusty  rifle  and  went 
with  us.  It  was  a  long,  tedious,  dangerous  trip  after 
we  passed  beyond  the  suburbs  of  San  Antonio.  One 
of  us  had  always  to  be  on  guard  at  night  while  the 
other  three  slept.  There  were  but  few  houses  from 
San  Antonio  to  I.adero,  an  insignificant  town  "vnthout 
any  railway  connection. 

"We  had  several  stirring  adventures  in  Mexico.  Sev- 
eral nights  we  did  not  sleep  because  we  could  see  men 
prowling  around  our  camp.  One  night  four  Americans 
camped  in  sight  of  us  and  neglected  to  stand  guard,  and 
the  next  morning  two  weTe  dead  and  another  was  dying. 
In  Lampazos,  Mexico,  we  found  many  of  those  baptized 
by  Brother  Westrup.  Some  of  them  said,  '^God  has  sent 
you  in  answer  to  our  prayers  for  some  one  to  take  rp 
Brother  Westrup's  work.'*  I  went  to  the  scene  of  the 
murder,  looked  on  Westrup 's  new  grave  and  prayed  the 
Lord  to  give  us  Mexico  for  Christ.  I  found  that  one 
Saturday  Brother  Westrup  had  been  overtaken  while 
^partaking  of  his  noon-day  lunch  on  the  road  to  Mosquiz 
near  Progresso.  He  was  killed  and  stripped  of  his 
clothing  and  his  body  was  mutilated  and  pitched  upon 
a  ''Spanish  'dagger''  (A  Yucca  Palm  tree)  and  left  there. 
A  Mexican  brother  who  accompanied    him    was    also 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  271 

killed.  I  found  a  piece  of  his  day  book,  stained  with 
his  own  blood,  telling  of  at  least  seventy-iive  people 
who  had  been  converted  and  baptized.  I  was  profound- 
ly impressed  w^th  the  zeal  and  Scripture  knowledge  of 
the  young  converts.  Several  -of  them  could  quote  chap- 
ter after  chapter  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  Ail 
of  them  were  witnesses  for  Christ. 

I  visited  Westrup^s  widow  and  his  orphan  children, 
who  were  afterwards  taken  to  Buckner's  Orphans' 
Home  in  Texas  and  educated. 

The  brother-in-law  of  Brother  Westmp,  Alejandro 
Trevino  is  no  doubt  our  leading  Mexican  minister  to- 
day, and  two  of  his  nephews  are  useful  ministers. 
Porfirio  Rodriguez,  co-laborer  wit)h  our  martyr,  helped 
me  establish  the  work  in  Saltillo.  Alejandro  Trevino 
worked  for  years  with  me.  AVe  made  long  journeys 
together  across  the  mountains  and  deserts.  Our  li\'es 
were  often  threatene'd.  I  saw  plainly  what  our  martyr 
and  those  w^ho  had  gone  before  me  endured  for  the 
Gospel. 

One  of  the  happiest  days  of  my  life  w^as  when  I 
baptized  fifty-seven  people  in  San  Rafael  river  one  Sun- 
day, and  Brother  Tre\dno  and  I  organized  a  Baptist 
church,  of  which  he  became  the  honored  pastor.  It  was 
here  that  ]\Ir?.  Duggan  laid  the  scene  of  that  interesting 
book,  "A  Mexican  Ranch.'* 

Leaving  there  accompanied  by  a  few  bretliren  I  went 
to  San  Pablo  to  preach.  After  a  sermon  in  a  private 
house  I  knelt  to  pray  and  a  bandit  slipped  up  to  stab 


272  MODERN  BAPTIST 

me  when  deacon  Chavez  providentially  looked  up  and 
thrust  out  his  arm  and  saved  my  life.  The  next  day 
we  were  waylaid  as  we  went  to  Cienega  del  Tore,  but 
the  Lord  delivered  us. 

A  man  came  to  the  house  where  I  was  stopping  at 
Cienega,  pistol  in  hand,  to  kill  me  hut  T  took  a  Catholic 
New  Testament  and  showed  him  that  we  were  ri^t, 
and  he  was  ever  after  a  true  friend. 

At  Rayones,  as  I  was  about  to  baptize  a  young  man, 
his  brother  rui^hed  up  saying  that  if  the  brother  wa« 
baptized,  he  would  kill  us  both.  I  asked  the  candidate 
what  he  wanted  to  do.  He  replied  that  he  wanted  to 
obey  Christ.  1  stai'ted  down  into  the  water  and  the 
infuriated  brother  started  to  make  good  his  threat,  when 
others  disarmed  him. 

That  night  he  came  to  the  services  to  shoot  me, 
but  Brother  Chavez  stood  before  me  to  shield  me  while 
I  preached.  The  Lord  convicted  him  of  sin  before  we 
concluded  the  services  and  he  hid  his  pistol,  begged 
my  forgiveness  and  offered  himself  for  baptism.  He 
died  four  weeks  later,  happy  in  the  Sa^dor^s  love. 

In  a  meeting  held  in  Montemorelos  in  recent  years, 
by  the  brother-in-law  of  our  martyr,  a  man  who  years 
before  had  been  a  noted  bandit,  caane  before  the  church 
with  his  entire  family  asking  to  be  received  as  candidates 
for  baptism.  He  related  a  remarkable  experience.  He 
said,  ''Twenty  years  or  more  ago  I  was  in  Rayones  and 
there  was  a  Baptist  minister  there  named  Powell.  He 
was  to  leave  the  next  morning  for  Gal  can  a.     He  had 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  273 

baptized  a  number  of  people  through  all  that  re^^ion 
and  was  organizinGj  churches  and  I  determined  to  fol- 
low him  and  kill  him.  When  I  overtook  him  he  and 
his  companion  Charez  hegan  to  talk  to  me  about  mj' 
soul,  gave  me  a  New  Testament  and  made  me  promise 
to  come  and  hear  him  preach  that  night.  I  did  so  and 
was  deeply  stirred  about  my  soul.  I  came  home,  read 
the  New  Testament  and  have  read  it  in  my  family  and 
prayed  regularly  to  God  for  years  and  have  realized 
the  forgiveness  of  my  sins;  but  I  had  lived  such  an 
outrageous  life  that  I  have  never  had  the  courage,  until 
now,  to  come  amd  tell  you  what  the  Lord  has  done  for 
my  soul,  'and  to  ask  you  to  receive  me  and  my  family 
on  our  experience  of  grace  as  candidates  for  baptism." 
When  this  was  told  me  by  Brother  Trevino,  T  remem- 
bered well  the  occasion  and  the  earnest  talk  we  had 
on  the  natural  bridge  where  he  had  intended  to  murder 
us.  If  I  had  not  witnessed  for  Christ  I  would  certainly 
have  been  killed.  Twenty-eight  people  were  murdered 
along  that  route  that  year. 

In  1882,  soon  after  establishing  my  residence  at 
Saltillo,  I  saw  the  need  for  a  female  school,  and  in- 
terested Governor  Madero,  gTandfather  of  the  revolution- 
ist who  has  recently  overthrown  the  power  of  President 
Diaz.  The  school  bears  the  name  of  Madero  In- 
stitute. The  interest  of  Governor  Madero  in  this  work, 
and  the  help  he  extended  toward  it  very  much  infuriated 
the  Catholics.  On  one  Sabbath  afternoon  I  heard  hun- 
dreds of  them  coming  down  the  street,  crvintj:  death  to  me 


274  MODERN  BAPTIST 

and  Governor  Madero.  But  for  the  timelj^  arrival  of 
Dr.  R.  II.  L.  Bi'bl),  who  stationed  himself  at  my  door, 
my  entire  family  would  no  doubt  have  been  extermi- 
nated. When  we  started  to  erect  a  meeting  house  in 
Saltillo,  the  priests  and  fanatics  declared  it  should 
never  be  built.  They  went  to  the  governor  and 
tried  to  persuade  him  tO'  hinder  us.  He  said  to  the 
two  priests,  "If  a  hair  of  this  man's  head  is  hurt,  T 
will  hang  you  both."  The  governor  compelled  me  to 
keep  a  telephone  in  my  sleeping  room  for  more  thaii 
a  yeiar,  saying  that  they  were  liable  to  try  to  murder 
me  at  any  time  and  if  I  could  hold  them  at  bay  until 
he  could  get  to  me  that  he  would  teach  them  a  lesson 
in  regard  to  religious  liberty. 

While  preaching  in  the  new  church  at  Saltillo  one 
night  I  saw  three  young  men  who  had  evidently  heard 
for  the  first  time  the  story  of  Christ's  dying  love.  I 
hurried  down  and  greeted  them  and  they  told  me  that 
in  their  country  the  priests  forbade  their  reading  the 
Bible,  saying  that  it  was  the  meanest  book  on  earth. 
They  said  they  thought  that  what  they  had  heard  that 
night  was  the  best  reading  they  had  ever  heard  and  that 
they  had  never  heard  such  good  things  as  God's  love  for 
ginful  men,  and  that  the  song  ^Mesus  Saves"  was  so 
sweet  that  they  did  wish  their  mother  and  father  could 
hear  it.  It  was  arranged  that  I  should  go  in  a  few  weeks 
to  their  home.  In  doing  so  I  had  to  swim  my  bronco 
through  a  swollen  stream  and  I  reached  there  in  wet 
clothes.    The  house,  like  nearly  all  Mexican  houses,  was 


HEROES  AND  xMARTYRS.  275 

built  of  ado'be  (sun  dried  brick),  with  a  flat  roof  and 
an  open  court  like  the  one  where  Peter  stood  when  he 
denied  his  Lord.  The  rooms  had  large  door  shutters, 
but  no  wind'o\7s.  I  was  taken  into  a  room  w^here  there 
was  a  bed  and  table  and  two  chairs.  The  father  and 
mother  and  Manuel,  who  had  accompanied  me,  assem- 
bled in  the  patio  or  open  court  and  engaged  in  an  earn- 
est conversation.  Sixty  people  were  murdered  Avhile  the 
Gospel  was  bein^  established  in  ^lexico  and  some  were 
killed  not  very  far  from  this  ranch.  From  tiae  earnest 
manner  of  their  conversation,  I  felt  assured  that  the 
people  had  threatened  that  if  I  preached  they 
would  kill  me  and  kill  the  family  and  end  the  w^hole 
business,  and  after  all  I  was  to  be  defeated  in  my  mis- 
sion. I  ne\^er  prayed  more  earnestly  for  divine  help. 
Finally  the  old  mother  came  into  the  room  with  some 
clothes  on  her  arm,  saying,  ^'Senor,  you  must  remove 
the  wet  clothes  or  you  will  die  of  pneumonia." 

^^The  people  are  already  beginning  to  assemble  iu 
the  sala,  and  I  believe  that  ever^^one  in  this  community 
is  coming  to  hear  you  preach."  By  this  time  she  was 
near  the  door.  Just  as  she  was  about  ready  to  close 
it  she  said,  ''Senor,  I  am  mortified  about  these  clothes. 
I  think  they  will  be  all  right  as  far  as  they  go,  but,  oh  I 
I  am  so  afraid  they  will  not  go  far  enough."  With 
this  she  closed  the  door  and  departed.  Mexican?  are 
small  of  stature  and  they  could  find  no  clothing  large 
enough.  T  Jiad  soon  removed  my  clothing  and  put 
on  the  under  garments  and  began  the  task  of  adjusting 


276  MODERN  BAPTIST 

the  outer  ones.  The  pants  were  yellow  and  made  to 
fit  skin  tight.  With  the  greatest  difficulty,  I  forced  them 
on  and  with  still  greater  difficulty  was  T  able  to  fasten 
them.  Then  I  put  on  the  green  and  white  striped 
vest,  and  when  I  had  buttoned  it  up  T  found  that  there 
was  about  twenty  minutes'  recess  between  the  bottom 
of  the  vest  and  the  top  of  the  pantaloons,  which  was 
like  church  members  who  had  fallen  out,  and  I  could 
not  get  them  to  meet.  I  put  on  the  white  blouse,  the 
sleeves  of  which  came  just  below  my  elbow  and  the 
tail  of  it  came  nearljr  to  the  waist  band  of  m.y  panta- 
loons. Then  I  sat  down,  very  cautiously,  to  put  on 
mv  shoes  and  hose,  when  I  discovered  that  country 
folks  in  that  region  do  not  use  hose.  The  shoes  were 
yellow  gaiters  with  heels  fully  six  inches  high  and 
with  points  after  the  pattern  of  a  tooth  pick.  They 
were  entirely  too  small,  but  after  an  earnesit  effort  I 
succeeded  in  getting  them  on  and  to  my  horror  dis- 
covered about  eight  inches  of  w^hite  uncovered  space 
between  the  pantaloons  and  shoes.  I  am  sure  that  I 
looked  more  like  a  clown  than  a  preacher. 

I  hurried  across  to  where  the  people  were  assembled. 
Mexicans,  as  a  race,  are  very  polite,  but  my  ridiculous 
garb  was  more  than  they  could  stand.  They  broke  out 
into  laughter  and  the  longer  1  stood  there  the  worse 
the  situation  grew.  The  old  folks  rushed  out  and 
brought  in  the  dining  room  table,  placing  it  in  front 
of  me  and  Manuel  covered  it  over  mth  a  bed 
blanket,  which  he  draped  over  the  side.     They  wished 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  277 

to  hide  all  of  me  that  was  possible.  One  would 
have  thought  this  ridiculous  garb  would  have  de- 
stroyed all  seriousness  for  the  evening.  The  room 
was  filled  to  suffocation.  I  read  the  Scripture,  prayed 
and  ^ng  the  song  ''Jesus  Saves."  T  took  as  ray  text, 
John  3:16,  and  I  had  what  the  old  fathers  called  lib- 
erty. In  a  few  moments  I  had  forgotten  all  about  the 
clothing  as  did  the  people  also.  Conviction  of  sin  came 
to  their  hearts.  AVhile  I  was  yet  preaching,  the  old 
father  .stood  up  and  said,  ''Lo  veo,  lo  veo,  lo  veo,"  '^I 
see  it,  I  see  it,  I  see  it,"  and  then  and  there  publicly 
confessed  Christ.  Before  we  closed  the  services,  twenty- 
three  people  had  confessed  a  hope  in  Christ.  Two  of 
those  boys  are  today  leading  Baptist  ministers  and  have 
been  eminently  successful  as  soul  winners. 

Today  in  Mexico,  our  martyr  rests  from  his  labors, 
but  the  principles  for  which  he  wrought  and  died  have 
permeated  every  corner  of  the  Aztec  land,  both  in 
the  Jacal  of  the  peon  regions,  and  as  well  in  the  palace 
of  recent  governors  and  of  the  president  to  be.  Priest- 
craft, superstition  and  paganism  are  gradually  yield- 
ing before  the  presence  and  power  of  New  Testament 
truth.     The  morning  dawns,  the  darkness  disappears. 

W.  D.  Powell,  D.D., 

Louisville,  Ky. 


PABLO  BESSOX. 


(278) 


PABLO  BESSON:  APOSTLE  OF  ARGENTINA. 

Attendants  of  the  Baptist  World  Alliance  in  Phila- 
delphia will  recall  the  banner-like  placards,  which 
marked  the  places  assigned  in  the  great  auditorium  to 
the  groups  of  messengers  from  various  foreign  countries. 
Among  these  up-lifted  national  banners  appeared  one 
bearing  the  name  ^'Argentina/'  beneath  which  sat  the 
lone  representative  from'  that  far  away  southern  land. 
Having  seen  him  once,  one  could  not  aften^^ard  fail  to 
pick  him  out  from  the  vast  throng.  Among  that  great 
gathering  of  Baptist  peers  from  all  parts  of  the  world 
W8^  no  more  interesting  character  than  Rev.  Paul  Besson, 
or  Don  Pablo  (as  he  is  familiarly  and  affectionately 
called  by  his  own  people) ,  the  Baptist  pioneer  and  hero 
of  Argentina.  His  massive,  bald  head,  roofed  around 
the  edges  Tvdth  silky  iron-gray  hair,  his  heavy  brows, 
his  deep-set,  piercing  eyes,  his  kindly  but  stern  b^ 
whiskered  face,  marked  him  out  as  a  man  of  deep 
thought,  rich  experience,  and  high  purpose.  He  is  a 
Baptist  who  has  followed  unflinchingly  the  logic  of  the 
Baptist  position,  ha\4ng  spoken  of  himself  as,  ''This 
contradictor  accustomed  to  obey  tlie  word  of  God.'^ 

By  birth  he  is  Swiss.  Descended  from  an  old  burgess 
family  of  Neuchatel,  he  was  born  on  the  4th  of  April, 


280  MODERN  BAPTIST 

1848,  in  the  village  of  Nods,  where  his  farther  labored 
as  evangelical  pastor  for  twenty-five  years.  His  mother, 
Elisa  Revel,  came  of  "Waldensian  stock.  In  writing  of 
his  mother,  Don  Pablo  says,  'To  her  inheritance  of  live- 
liness, of  pedagogic  talent,  and  of  the  way  to  gesticulate, 
the  son  is  debtor.'^  To  those  who  ever  heard  him 
preach,  or  engaged  with  him  in  spirited  conversation, 
or  saw  his  enthusiastic  hand-clapping  in  approval  of  some 
choice  utterance  at  the  World  Alliance  this  reference 
to  his  inheritance  of  '^ gesticulation"  comes  with  strik- 
ing force  and  significance. 

As  a  university  student  for  the  Presbyterian  ministry 
he  had  a  distinguished  career,  having  studied  in  the  Lat- 
in College  of  Neuchatel,  at  Stuttgart,  in  the  University  of 
Basel,  -and  the  University  of  Leipsig.  Among  his  instruct- 
ors may  be  mentioned  the  great  Hebrew  scholar,  Bovet, 
the  famous  philosopher,  Secretan,  and  Dr.  Frederic 
Godet,  whose  commentary  on  the  Gospel  of  John  is  an 
acknowledged  masterpiece  of  exegesis.  This  last  named 
illustrious  professor  has  exerted  a  great  influence  over 
his  methods  of  thought  and  interpretation.  As  a  young 
Presbyterian  minister  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  fight 
for  the  disestablishment  of  the  church  in  Switzerland. 
He  was  one  of  the  twenty-five  pastors  who,  with  Godet, 
separated  from  the  State  Church  to  found  the  Free 
Church  of  Neuchatel,  but  his  fidelity  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment and  to  liberty  of  conscience  carried  him  farther 
than  his  allies  dared  to  go. 

After  serving  for  some  time  as  pastor  in  Switzer- 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  281 

land,  he  went  to  France  during  the  troublous  times  of  the 
Franco-Prus.?ian  War,  where  he  preached  for  several 
years.  His  spiritual  zeal  and  evangelistic  aggressiveness 
were  more  than  some  of  his  staid  parishioners  desired 
and  involved  him  in  various  conflicts  w^th  the  Church 
authorities,  and  brought  him  into  trouble  with  the  civil 
authorities  likewise.  On  one  occasion  for  publicly  giving 
out  religious  tracts  and  preaching  in  public  places  he 
was  confined  for  three  days  in  a  narrow  dungeon  with 
thieves  and  murderers,  and  condemned  by  the  courts 
to  pay  one  hundred  francs  and  cost.  This  opposition 
only  serv^ed  to  quicken  his  desire  for  full  religious  lib- 
erty and  drove  him  closer  to  the  teachings  of  the  Word  of 
God. 

In  Lyons  he  met  a  Baptist  missionary  and  soon  cam© 
to  realize  that  the  Baptist  position  was  the  one  toward 
which  he  had  been  struggling  for  several  years,  and! 
was  baptized  by  Mr.  I.  B.  Cretin,  father-in-law  of  Mr. 
R.  Saillens,  present  pastor  of  our  Baptist  Church  of 
Paris.  Of  course  his  baptism  cost  'him  his  pastorate,  his 
position,  and  most  of  his  friends.  His  father  disinherited 
him,  and  lonely  and  poor  he  had  to  start  life  afresh.  His 
mother  wrote  him,  ^'You  will  be  a  wanderer  in  the  world 
without  friends,  and  will  be  called  a  Baptist!" 

For  six  years  in  the  midst  of  discouragement  and 
hostiUties  he  preached  in  France,  part  of  the  time  as 
evangelist  and  part  of  the  time  as  pastor.  Some  of  the 
members  of  his  little  church  emigrated  to  Argentina, 
and,  finding  themselves  without  a  pastor  in  a  hostile 


282  MODERN  BAPTIST 

and  uncongenial  environment f  they  wrote  back  to  France 
pleading  that  a  pastor  be  sent  to  them.  No  one  was 
found  to  volunteer.  Then  Besson,  with  his  character- 
istic keenness  of  intellect,  argured  to  himself  that  i\ 
would  be  easier  to  find  a  successor  for  him  in  Franca 
than  to  secure  a  pastor  to  go  to  the  little  flock  in  Argen- 
tina. His  decision  was  made  and  he  went.  He  had  no 
missionary  societies  at  his  back,  no  salary  promised,  and 
no  private  income.  From  far  away  Argentina  he  heard 
the  cr}^,  ''Oome  over  and  help  us,"  and  he  was  not  dis- 
obedient to  the  summons.  Centuries  ago  another  man 
who  had  fought  his  way  through  trial,  sacrifice  and 
persecution,  to  the  Baptist  position,  had  heard  the  cry, 
''Come  over  into  Macedonia  and  help  us,"  and  forth- 
with he  entered  the  Continent  of  Europe  to  plant  the 
Baptist  seed  and  unfurl  the  Baptist  banner.  Here  now 
in  these  later  times  was  another  man  named  Paul  who 
heard  the  far-off  cry  for  help  and  came.  God  had  opened 
a  door  in  South  America  and  Paul  (Pablo)  Besson  came. 
Thus  from  continent  to  continent  God  and  his  heroes 
are  marching  on ! 

He  traveled  as  a  steerage  passenger  among  the  emi- 
grants. On  arrival  he  put  up  at  the  Immigrant's  Hotel, 
and  until  this  day  he  delights  to  describe  the  shocked 
look  of  a  prominent  man  in  Monte^'ideo,  to  whom  he 
carried  letters  of  introduction  and  who  showed  him  great 
kindness,  when  in  answer  to  his  question  at  what  hotel 
he  was  staying,  Besson  replied  without  a  blush,  "At  the 
Immigrants'  Hotel  1" 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  283 

Arriving  at  Esperanza  Santa  Fe  he  soon  became 
pastor  of  the  faithful  little  flock.  Then  came  years  of 
struggle  and  hardship.  His  aged  father  ha\dng  relented 
now  gave  him  financial  support.  This  enabled  him  to  go 
forward  with  his  w^ork  as  missionary  pastor.  Soon  he 
became  the  champion  and  protector  of  his  little  con- 
gregation. He  counseled  with  them,  encouraged  them, 
and  helped  them  in  their  business,  often  saving  them 
from  oppression.  Above  all  he  stood  up  for  their  relig- 
ious rights,  taking  it  as  his  special  mission  to  secure  re- 
ligious liberty  in  the  new  country. 

Before  many  months  this  Baptist  preacher  and  hii 
church  found  themselves  confronting  a  great  difficulty, 
which  also  involved  the  government  in  a  dilemma  and 
the  Roman  Catholic  priests  in  a  fury.  This  difficulty 
arose  out  of  conditions  for  which  the  Catholics  were  re- 
sponsible. In  order  to  advance  Romish  interests  in  the 
land,  a  papal  decree  had  gone  forth  that  only  Cliristian 
children  could  inherit  the  property  of  their  parents. 
This  meant  that  only  those  who  could  present  a 
baptismal  certificate,  issued  by  the  Catholic  Church,  had 
any  legal  rights.  Later  this  law  was  modified  to  suit  the 
Protestants  w^hose  baptismal  certificates  were  eventually 
given  legal  recognition.  This  law  proved  equally  satis- 
factory to  Catholics  and  Protestants,  or  Pedo-Baptists; 
but  the  coming  of  the  Baptists  (as  is  always  the  case) 
gave  a  new  complexion  to  the  situation,  since  for  con- 
science' sake  Baptists  could  issue  no  baptismal  certificates 
to  children,  except  to  such  as  had  voluntarily  confessed 


284  MODERN  BAPTIST 

their  faith  in  Christ  and  had  been  baptized.  Hence  the 
children  of  Baptists  who  had  not  been  baptized  had  no 
legal  rights — -ihe  only  proof  of  their  birth  being  their 
existence.  They  were  put  into  the  same  category  as  un- 
recognized, illegitimate  children.  The  fires  of  religious 
liberty  in  the  soul  of  this  man,  who  had  set  out  to  follow 
relentlessly  the  logic  of  Baptist  principles,  began  to 
blaze,  and  Mr.  Besson  took  up  the  matteir  vigorously. 
The  columns  of  La  Prensa,  the  greatest  paper  published 
in  South  America,  were  opened  to  him,  and  this  Baptist 
preacher  won  a  victory. 

His  articles  in  La  Prensa  were  widely  read  and  com- 
mented upon  as  he  made  his  strong  pleas  for  the  civil 
registry  of  births,  in  order  to  secure  the  rights  of  Bap- 
tists. He  pressed  his  cause,  even  petitioning  the  national 
congress,  and  going  before  the  Committee  of  Senators 
to  present  his  case.  Being  unable  to  find  another  solu- 
tion of  the  problem,  congress  yielded  to  his  request.  Mr. 
Besson^s  place  as  a  writer  on  subjects  relating  to  religious 
and  civic  questions  was  now  secure,  so  that  the  Argen' 
tine  people  began  to  find  out  something  about  the  Bap- 
tists and  what  they  strand  for.  The  unyielding  hero 
won  his  way  against  Jesuitical  opposition  and  prejudice, 
and  the  civil  registry  was  created  because  the  Swiss  Bap- 
tists with  their  leader  forced  the  hands  of  the  govern- 
ment. 

Our  Baptist  preacher's  next  contest  was  an  effort  to 
secure  civil  marriage.  The  only  marriage  considered  a^ 
valid    was   that   solemnized    by   the    Roman    Catholic 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  285 

Church.  Although  a  concession  had  been  granted  with 
some  reluctance  to  certain  Protestant  churches,  these 
were  l(X)ked  upon  as  the  official  or  state  churches  of 
Scotland,  England,  Germany  and  the  United  States, 
and  on  this  ground  the  marriages  celebrated  were 
recognized  as  valid.  This  privilege,  however,  was  lim- 
ited in  that  it  was  not  gTanted  to  all  non-Oatholics,  nor, 
in  fact,  was  it  desired  by  all.  Being  a  Baptist,  and 
nothing  but  a  Baptist,  Mr.  Besson  could  not  for  one 
moment  think  of  attempting  to  pose  as  the  representa- 
tive of  any  sort  of  state  church.  He  and  his  people 
would  recognize  no  ecclesiastical  monopoly  of  the  right 
to  marry.  They  desired  no  special  privileges,  buit  they 
did  demand  equality  and  raised  their  plea  for  civil 
marriage. 

The  issue  was  brought  to  a  point  in  1887  when  a 
young  Baptist  couple,  who  were  planning  to  be  married, 
presented,  at  the  suggestion  of  Pastor  Besson,  a  petition 
to  the  minister  of  justice  asking  that  he  would  authorize 
them  to  celebrate  their  marriage  by  the  civil  registrar 
In  their  petition  they  said,  ''Although  our  pastor,  the 
Rev.  Paul  Besson,  is  minister  of  our  religion,  this  does 
not  include  the  privilege  of  being  an  official  of  the  civil 
state,  and  therefore  he  is  not  authorized  to  celebrate  the 
contract  nor  to  make  out  the  act,  a  copy  of  which  must 
be  sent  to  the  civil  registry  office.  Thus  we  are  deprived 
of  that  law."  A  gentleman  high  in  official  circles  be- 
came interested  in  the  matter,  after  he  had  been  inter- 
viewed by  Mr.  Besson,  and  wrote:    "The  constitution 


286  MODERN  BAPTIST 

guarantees  the  fullest  liberty  of  conscience  to  all  men  in 
the  world  who  wish  to  live  on  Argentine  feoil.  It  does 
not  oblige  anyone  to  profess  a  positive  religion,  or  to 
profess  any.  For  that  reason  the  law  should  have  fore- 
seen the  situation  in  which  the  settlers  referred  to  ar« 
placed,  and  who  find  themselves  unable  to  form  a  family, 
which  is  the  first  of  all  rights  that  the  constitution  ac- 
cords equally  to  all.''  In  the  meantime,  the  invincible 
Mr.  Besson  was  writing  for  the  columns  of  La  Prensa. 
The  betrothed  couple  had  to  wait  awhile,  but,  after  some 
long  debates  in  congress,  their  petition  was  granted  and 
civil  marriage  was  declared  a  law.  Thus  at  the  pen-point 
in  the  hand  of  a  Baptist  preacher,  sustained  by  the  sturdy 
conviction  of  his  Baptist;  people,  another  victory  was  won ; 
another  privilege  was  wrested  from  the  Church  of  Rome ; 
another  act  of  justice  was  done  to  those  in  whom  con- 
science was  a  living  force.  Baptist  principles  in  action 
were  working  revolutions  in  Argentina. 

Still  another  achievement  was  that  of  opening  the  cem- 
eteries for  burying  of  Protestants.  For  a  time  the  road- 
way or  back  yard  was  the  only  burying  ground  for  Bap- 
tists because  permission  to  bury  their  dead  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  cemeteries  had  been  refused.  Finally  a  municipal 
decree  forbade  the  bur^dng  of  the  dead  in  the  back  yards 
or  along  the  highway,  so  when  death  entered  a  Bap- 
tist home  the  bereaved  family  knew  not  what  to  do. 
The  time  h.ad  come  for  action.  Pastor  Besson  cried  out, 
"Your  government  will  let  us  live  in  your  country,  but 
will  not  let  us  die  here  and  be  buried."    He  told  the 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  287 

authorities  that  he  would  defy  their  decree,  and  a  funer- 
al was  held  in  a  back  yard.  Pursued  by  the  police  officers, 
he  succeeded  in  sending  a  telegram  to  the  office  of  La 
Prensa  and  other  papers  in  Buenos  Aires  informing 
them  of  the  situation.  Then  he  went  to  the  office  of  the 
state  governor  where  he  w^as  followed  by  the  police  who 
undertook  to  arrest  him.  "You  would  better  leave  him 
alone,"  said  the  governor.  "This  affair  is  going  to 
raise  a  great  disturbance;"  and,  turning  to  Mr.  Besson, 
he  said :  "I  will  secure  you  a  Protestant  cemetery  separate 
from  the  other."  "I  do  not  want  a  Protestant  cemetery," 
answered  the  Baptist  pastor.  "It  would  only  be  called 
the  'cemetery  of  the  accursed,'  just  as  in  other  places. 
I  demand  equality.  The  burial  of  the  dead  should  not 
be  an  ecclesiastical  privilege ;  it  is  a  civil  duty.  Take  the 
cemetery  key  from  the  Catholic  priest  and  give  it  to  the 
municipal  authorities.  Let  me  enter  the  cemetery  on 
the  same  footing  as  the  priests.  Nothing  less  than  this 
will  satisfy  me.  I  make  the  demand."  The  Romanists 
raised  great  opposition  but  before  a  great  while  the  Bap- 
tist again  had  his  way,  but  not  until  he  had  pressed 
the  matter  to  the  point  of  fighting  it  out  in  the  congress. 
Today  a  Protestant  has  the  same  rights  as  the  Roman 
Catholic,  the  law  recognizing  no  difference. 

These  are  only  some  of  the  instances  in  which  great 
reforms  have  been  wTought  in  Argentina  by  the  applica- 
tion of  Baptist  ideas.  When  the  true  history  of  the 
country  shall  have  been  written,  it  wall  be  seen  that  the 
Baptists  have  led  the  vanguard  of  the  struggle  for  re- 


288  MODERN  BAPTIST 

ligious  liberty;  As  Mr.  David  Lloyd-George  »aid  of  Dr. 
John  Clifford,  the  man  who  is  making  England  over  in 
his  own  image,  ''He  has  a  conscience  without  a  crack  in 
it,  and  when  anything  hits  it,  it  sounds  clear."  So  Pablo 
Besson,  the  man  with  a  whole  conscience,  is  giving  Ar- 
gentina a  conscience,  and  in  doing  so  is  developing  an 
atmosphere  in  which,  through  the  years  to  come,  Bap- 
tist principles  will  thrive  and  bear  fruit.  The  Baptist 
conscience  cannot  make  a  compromise.  It  is  invincible 
because  God  makes  it  keen. 

During  the  early  part  of  his  long  fight  Mr.  Besson 
stood  alone.  He  was  misunderstood  by  many  of  the 
other  Protestants  in  the  country  who  were  ready  to 
yield  and  make  concessions,  but  he  faithfully  plowed 
his  long,  lonely  furrow,  heedless  of  criticism,  and  faith- 
fully he  sowed  the  good  seed  which  are  today  ripening 
into  abundant  harvest. 

From  Santa  Fe  our  hero  moved  to  Buenos  Aires, 
where  he  organized  and  built  up  a  churdh,  and  largely 
at  his  own  expense  erected  a  neat  house  of  worship,  the 
first  Baptist  meeting-house  in  the  republic. 

Having  toiled  on  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  in 
1903,  Mr.  Besson  welcomed  the  first  missionaries  sent  to 
Argentina  by  the  Foreign  Mission  Board  of  the  South- 
ern Baptist  Convention.  In  many  ways  he  has  given 
them  aid  and  encouragement,  and  now  that  the  weight 
of  years  rests  heavily  upon  him,  he  delights  to  turn 
over  his  task  to  younger  hands  and  hearts.  Not  one 
trace  of  jealousy  does  he  show  as  he  surrenders  his  work 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  289 

to  the  new  workers.    But  instead  of  this  he  deeds  to  the 

mission  the  house  of  worsliip  which  he  erected,  and  in 
addition  turns  over  to  the  Foreign  Mission  Board  in 
Richmond,  Va.,  large  properties  which  he  has  accumu- 
lated through  the  years. 

Mr.  Besson  is  a  diligent  Bible  student.  His  Greek 
Testament  is  his  constant  companion;  in  fact,  in  his 
devotional  reading  he  uses  the  Hebrew  and  the  Greek. 
He  is  a  prolific  waiter  both  in  the  religious  and  secular 
press  in  Switzerland,  France  and  Spain,  as  well  a3  Argen- 
tina. Few  days  pass  that  he  has  not  an  article  in  one  of 
the  leading  daily  papers  of  Buenos  Aires.  He  is  in  close 
touch  with  many  of  the  univea'sity  students  in  the 
capital  city  of  the  republic,  and  deals  with  them  faith- 
fully in  the  matter  of  their  souls.  Ho  is  on  friendly 
terms  with  many  prominent  members  of  the  national 
congress,  and  his  articles  and  conversations  have  in- 
epixed  and  strengthened  not  a  few  brilliant  speeches  in 
that  body.  He  is  severe  in  his  purposefulness,  at  times 
really  fierce  in  his  denunciations  of  injustice  and  error, 
yet  in  the  presence  of  sorrow,  distress  or  suffering,  his 
heart  is  as  tender  as  that  of  a  mother  with  her  child. 
Many  touching  stories  might  be  told  of  his  work  among 
the  broken  and  oppressed  in  the  poverty-stricken  dis- 
tricts of  the  great  city  of  Buenos  Aires.  Into  the  lazar- 
ettos, through "  the  alleys  and  crowded  streets  he  goes, 
carrying  comfort  and  help  to  the  hopeless  and  despairing, 
giving  of  his  means  to  relieve  the  suffering,  and  at  the 
same  time  pointing  them  to  the  Savior  of    the    lost. 


290  MODERN  BAPTIST 

Though  not  markedly  evangelistic  in  his  preaching,  he 
is  always  evangelical.  As  a  stickler  for  justification  by 
faith  he  might  be  Luther  himself. 

A  few  years  ago  he  married  a  noble  Christian 
woman.  Their  happy  and  comfortable  home  in  Buenos 
Aires  is  the  refuge  and  resting  place  of  missionaries  and 
pastors. 

At  the  Baptist  World  Alliance  in  Philadelphia  he 
represented  the  little,  struggling,  emergent  Baptist  bands 
of  his  adopted  land.  Cultured,  genial,  and  marked 
with  the  tracings  of  many  years  of  toil,  he  was  a  pictur- 
esque figure  among  that  great  gathering  of  thinkers, 
workers,  and  heroes. 

It  was  a  delight  to  those  who  met  him  to  do  him 
honor.  For  many  years  he  has  stood  for  the  truth 
and  has  not  been  ashamed  nor  afraid  to  declare  his 
principles  and  deliver  his  message.  Under  God  he  has 
written  a  fresh  chapter  of  Baptist  history  and  demon- 
strated that  the  Baptist  conscience,  in  asserting  itself, 
not  only  wins  its  own  right,  but  opens  the  way  through 
which  many  others  can  enter  into  a  larger  liberty. 
S.  J.  Porter,  D.D., 

San  Antonio,  Texas. 


JOSE  BARRETTO,  T3KAZTL. 

It  was  a  splendid  reception  committee  which  greeted 
Missionarv^  Ginsburg  and  myself  when  we  alighted  from 
our  train  at  Santo  Antonio  in  the  interior  of  Brazil. 
There  were,  perhaps,  a  hundred  people  waiting  for  us 
and  they  gave  us  a  most  hearty  welcome.  We  greeted 
each  other  according  to  Brazilian  fai^hion,  which  meant 
that  we  not  only  shook  hands,  but  embraced. 

After  we  had  finished  the  greetings,  a  great,  strong 
man,  more  than  six  feet  in  height  and  weighing  perhaps 
two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  lined  the  party  up  two 
and  two  and  marched  us  down  through  the  city  to  the 
very  excellent  church  building.  His  purpose  evidently 
was  to  show  us  off  and  to  make  some  impression  upon 
the  opposers  who  had  so  often  persecuted  the  little  Bap- 
tist group.  Finally  we  reached  the  church  which  made  a 
very  picturesque  appearance,  covered  over  i\s  it  is  with  a 
coating  of  blue  calcimine  and  the  doors  and  windows 
draped  in  beautiful  Brazilian  lace  curtains.  It  was 
rather  a  picturesque  building  for  a  church  and  yet  it 
appeared  to  be  in  perfect  keeping  with  its  surroundings. 

As  we  entered  the  church  door,  there  stood  grouped 
about  it  a  number  of  young  people  vntli  trays  in  their 
hands  filled  with  rose  petals  and  confetti,  all  of  which 


292  MODERN  BAPTIST 

they  poured  over  us  in  great  profusion.  The  floor  of 
the  building  was  also  strewn  with  oleander  and  cinna- 
mon leaves.  These  floral  demonstrations  gave  beautiful 
utterance  to  the  joy  with  which  these  dear  friends 
greeted  us.  After  w^e  had  prayed  with  the  people,  I 
learned  that  we  were  to  go  to  the  home  of  the  good 
brother  who  had  appeared  as  the  leader  of  the  group 
at  the  station.  We  marched  out  of  the  house  and  prac- 
tically the  entire  company  of  us  trudged  down  through 
the  middle  of  the  street  several  squares  to  the  home  of 
Jose  Barretto. 

Now  this  same  Jose  Barretto  is  a  very  remarkable 
character.  Formerly  he  was  the  political  boss  of  the 
community.  The  political  boss  is  a  man  of  unusual 
power  in  Brazil.  We  have  no  duplicate  of  him  in  the 
political  life  of  our  country.  So  great  is  his  influence 
with  the  authorities  that  he  has  practically  the  power  of 
life  and  death  over  the  entire  population.  Often  he  is 
a  yerj  desperate  man  and  terrorizes  the  community  in 
which  he  lives.  Such  a  man  was  Jose  Barretto.  If  there 
was  any  political  trickery  to  be  in^iulged  in,  it  was  Jose 
who  was  called  on  to  undertake  it.  If  it  was  found  nec- 
essary to  steal  ballots  to  change  any  election,  Jose  would 
go  to  the  polls,  take  possession  of  the  ballot  box,  extract 
from  it  the  necessary  number  of  votes  to  change  the 
election,  seal  up  the  box  and  allow  the  count  to  be  made. 
He  said  that  he  did  not  steal  the  votes.  He  just  took 
them.  No  one  dared  resist  him  so  violent  was  he  in  his 
methods.     The  numerous  scars  on  his  face  bore  eloquent 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  293 

te.stimony  to  the  fact  that  he  had  been  in  many  desper- 
ate encounters. 

]Io  was  just  a3  violent  in  his  opposition  to  Protestant- 
ism. He  declared  that  if  any  Protestant  .should  ever 
enter  his  hooue,  he  would  beat  him  to  death.  Late  one 
evening  there  came  to  his  door  his  brother-in-law,  who 
was  blind.  After  a  while  Jose  and  his  wife  were 
commiserating  the  brother  over  his  blindness  when  the 
brother  remarked  quietly,  ''Well,  I  may  not  be  a'blc  to 
see  the  light  of  day,  but  in  my  heart  I  am  able  to  see 
the  face  of  Jesus  Christ."  The  sister  exclaimed,  ''Oh, 
you  must  be  a  Protestant!"  The  brother  replied,  ''Yes, 
thank  God,  I  do  know  Jesus  Ciirist  as  my  Savior."  Im- 
mediately the  sister  fell  upon  the  floor  in  a  faint.  She 
had  visions  of  her  great,  strong  husband  pouncing  upon 
her  weak  brother  and  possibly  doing  him  bodily  injury. 
The  husband  did  his  best  to  resuscitate  her  and  comfort- 
ed her  by  saying,  "I  know  I  have  said  these  harsh  things 
about  the  Protestants,  but  I  would  not  strike  your 
brother  and  I  hope  I  am  not  mean  enough  tio  strike  a 
blind  man,  anyway." 

After  a  while  bedtime  came  on  and  the  brother  re- 
quested the  sister  to  read  a  passage  of  Scripture  and 
allow  him  to  lead  in  prayer.  They  did  not  own  a  Bible,  so 
presently  the  sister  found  a  book  of  Bible  stones,  from 
which  she  read  a  stor}"  and  all  knelt  in  prayer,  -lose 
told  me  that  the  brother-in-law  said  the  things  his  heart 
craved  to  have  said  so  well  and  gave  such  voice  to  cries 
which    sounded    in    his    own    soul,    that     when     tho 


294  MODERN  BAPTIST 

brother  came  to  the  end,  Jose  said  "amen/^  very  eaniesl- 

He  hecarrue  deeply  interested  in  the  Gospel  and  the 
brother  instructed  him  as  far  as  he  could  in  the  way  of 
life.  The  brother  went  into  Santo  Antonio,  which  is  a  few 
miles  away.  Jose  at  the  time'  was  li\ang  in  the  country 
at  the  Manganese  mines  of  which  he  was  the  superintend- 
ent. He  told  the  president  of  the  B.  Y.  P.  U.  in  Santo 
Antonio  of  what  had  occurred  in  the  home  of  Jose  Bar- 
retto  and  encouraged  him  to  go  out  and  instruct  Jose  in 
the  Gospel.  The  president  declared  he  would  gladly  do 
so.  He  acknowledged  that  he  had  been  afraid  to  ap- 
proach Jose  on  the  subject  of  religion  before  this  time, 
so  violent  was  Jose  in  his  opposition  to  the  Gospel.  The 
president  hastened  out  into  the  coutr}-  to  meet  the  seeker 
after  light.  When  he  came  into  the  office  of  the  ]Mangar 
nese  Mining  Co.,  he  found  Jose  seated  at  his  desk  poring 
over  the  pages  of  a  book.  It  was  a  copy  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures. 

He  had  come  into  possession  of  this  Bible  in  the  fol- 
lowing way:  One  day  there  entered  his  office  one  of  his 
employees  who  had  bought  a  Bible  from  a  colportcr. 
Jose  had  taken  it  and  looking  through  it  and  fin'ding  no 
saint's  pictures  in  it  concluded  it  must  be  that  hated 
Protestant  Bible,  the  circulation  of  which  the  priests 
were  endeavoring  so  strenuously  to  prevent.  He  threw 
the  book  into  a  box  in  the  eorner  of  his  office  where  since 
that  day  it  had  remained  covered  in  the  rubbish  and 
dirt. 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  295 

But  when  the  Spirit  seized  hold  of  Jose's  heart,  h€ 
had  a  gj-^^at  yearning  to  know  what  that  hook  had  to  say. 
He  fished  it  out  of  the  box,  brushed  the  dust  reverently 
from  its  pages  and  when  the  president  of  the  B.  Y.  F. 
U.  arrived  was  earnestly  seeking  to  find  the  message  it 
had  for  his  soul.  It  did  not  take  the  B.  Y.  P.  U.  presi- 
dent long  to  lead  this  earnest  seeker  into  the  light.  He 
explained  to  him  the  Word  of  God,  laid  along  side  of 
it  his  o(wn  experience  of  Jesus  Christ  and  soon  Jose 
found  peace  in  believing. 

He  became  a  living,  flaming  fire  for  the  Gospel  in  his 
community.  All  of  the  energy  which  he  had  thrown  into 
his  wicked  ways  in  the  da}"3  of  his  sinfulness,  he  now 
threw  into  his  endeavor  to  serve  the  Lord.  \Vherever 
a  house  opened  he  entered  to  preach  the  Gospel.  He  bore 
testimony  to  the  saving  grace  of  Christ  on  the  street. 
He  carried  his  Bible  with  him  constantly  which  he  read 
and  explained  to  others  and  has  become  a  mighty  soul 
mnner  in  his  community. 

The  effect  of  his  li\dng  upon  the  comTniinity  ha? 
been  tremendous.  On  the  day  we  visited  Santo  Antonio, 
we  received  an  invitation  from  twenty-three  people  out 
in  the  country  some  distance  away,  begging  us  to  come 
that  the  witness  Jose  had  borne  for  his  Lord  had  lc4 

out  and  baptize  them.  They  wanted,  they  said,  to  con- 
fess Christ  and  organize  themselves  int6  a  church.  They 
were  the  relatives  of  Jose  Barretto  and  testified  to  the  fact 
them  to  seek  the  same  Savior.    Thev  wanted  as  their 


296  MODERN  BAPTIST 

Savior  the  one  who  could  produce  sudh  wonderful  chang- 
es in  the  life  of  Jose  Barretto. 

That  night  we  had  a  greai  service  in  t3ie  church. 
Jose  was  the  chief  usher.  I  have  never  seen  a  man  who 
could  crowd  more  people  into  a  room  than  could  he. 
No  available  space  was  left  for  Jose  sandwiched  the 
people  into  the  room  until  we  had  hardly  room  to  stand, 
and  after  this  splendid  piece  of  work  was  over  we  could 
see  that  practically  as  many  people  were  on  the  outside. 
We  preached  the  Gospel  as  simply  as  we  knew  how  and 
after  we  had  Jfinished  we  asked  if  any  persons  wanted 
to  make  confession.  (T  say  "we/'  because  it  required 
more  than  one  of  us,  to  enable  me  to  preach.  I  spoke 
in  English  and  Ginsburg  interpreted  what  I  had  to  say 
into  Portuguese.)  The  people  rose  all  over  the  house  and 
then  began  a  most  remarkable  examhiation.  Many 
questions  would  be  asked  every  candidate,  searching  mo- 
tives and  seeking  to  find  out  whether  the  people  under- 
stood what  they  were  doing.  When  we  had  finishe4 
late  in  the  night  we  had  received  for  liaptism  be'tween 
twenty  and  thirty  people.  I  had  noticed  that  when  a 
man  in  a  soldier's  uniform  had  stood  near  the  door  to 
make  confession,  Jose  Barretto  became  very  much  agitat- 
ed. I  discovered  that  this  man  was  Jose's  confederate  in 
all  his  former  wickedness.  He  bore  teatimony  that 
night  that  the  change  which  had  taken  place  in  his  old 
companion  had  forced  him  to  realize  that  the  Savior  of 
Jose  Barretto  was  able  to  save  even  the  Avorst,  and  so  he 
had  come  to  the  feet  of  the  same  Lord.    It  was  a  won- 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  297 

derfiil  sendee  in  every  way.  The  power  of  the  Gospel 
was  mighty  upon  us  and  the  testimony  of  this  one  man's 
life  had  in  a  large  way,  made  it  possible  to  accomplish 
what  was  accomplished  t'hat  evenine;. 

While  wo  were  in  Jose's  home,  we  talked  much  ;vitli 
him  concerning  his  experiences.  He  had  been  forced 
to  suffer  a  great  deal  since  he  had  accepted  Clirist.  He 
had  lost  his  position  as  superintendent  of  the  mines 
beccUise  he  had  become  a  Protestant.  At  the  present  time 
he  is  making  his  living  as  a  coffee  merchant.  In  many 
ways  the  people  seek  to  persecute  him  and  try  his 
patience. 

He  told  us  of  an  experience  he  had  upon  the  day  of 
our  arrival  in  Santo  Antonio.  He  had  met  an  old  schoo! 
mate  on  the  street  that  morning  who  had  chided  him 
for  becoming  a  Protectant.  He  declare'^  that  Jose  had 
shown  great  weakness  and  that  he  was  ashamed  of  him. 
Jose  replied ;  '' You  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  yourself  be- 
cause you  know  what  kind  of  a  life  I  have  lived  in  this 
community  and  how  I  have  served  the  devil  in  the 
midst  of  this  people.  You  know  also  that  there  has  come 
into  my  life  a  great  change.  A  religion  that  could  pro- 
duce such  a  change  as  that  deser\^es  no  ridicule  and  you 
ought  to  be  glad  to  see  the  change  that  has  come  over 
me.  You  ought  to  encourage  me  rather  than  try  to  pro- 
voke me."  The  man  silunk  away,  but  in  the  meantime 
there  had  gatliered  about  them  a  number  of  people.  They 
saw  that  Jose  was  in  earnest  colloquy  with  another  man 
and  in  former  days  such  a  thing  would  have  been  a 


298  MODERN  BAPTIST 

serious  matter.  They  had  crowded  around  him  and  em- 
boldened by  the  mildness  of  Jose's  reply  to  his  friend, 
the  crowd  began  to  ask  questions.  Finally  one  of  them 
asked;  ''Suppose  some  one  of  us  were  to  strike  you  in  the 
face  in  persecution;  you  claim  to  be  so  mild  now;  what 
would  you  do?''  Jose  replied,  "Well,  I  do  not  expect 
such  a  thing  as  that  to  happen.  I  intend  to  live  such  a 
life  in  this  community  that  no  one  shall  ever  wisb.  to 
sitrike  me  or  molest  me  in  any  way." 

And  so  it  turns  oiit  that  this  man  lays  down  before 
his  commnnity  the  challenge  of  his  living.  "See  how  I 
live,"  he  says,  '^and  then  make  your  own  conclusions 
about  whether  or  not  the  faith  which  I  profess  in  Christ 
is  tiTie." 

T.  B.  Ray,  D.  D., 

Richmond,  Va. 


LOTT  CAREY,  A  NEGRO  HERO  TO  THE 
DARK  CONTINENT. 

To  attempt  to  recount  all  the  great  martyrs  and 
heroes  who  have  sacrificed  'their  lives  upon  the  altar  for 
the  cause  of  foreign  missions  is  futile,  for  one  would 
have  to  begin  with  the  apostles  of  old  and  come  through 
evcr}^  century  down  to  the  present  day.  Even  now  under 
the  effulgent  rays  of  the  twentieth  century  these  heroes, 
the  greatest  o-f  the  world's  heroes,  are  still  suffering  mar- 
tyrdom. 

It  must  be  conceded  that  most  of  those  who  have 
proved  themselves  to  be  heroes  in  the  cause  of  missions 
in  these  latter  days  belong  to  the  white  race,  but  this 
will  be  unders-tood  and  considered,  favorably  so,  when 
we  take  into  account  the  fact  that  the  black  and  yellow 
races  of  the  world  furnish  m'ost  of  the  pagans  or 
heathen  who  are  yet  to  be  redeemed  and  brought  to  a 
knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ. 

In  1620  when  the  first  African  slaves  were  landed  on 
American  soil,  a  real  mission ar^^  work  was  begun,  li 
was  not  the  intention  of  those  who  sold  the  African 
into  slavery  to  be  doing  a  work  that  would  ultimately 
honor  God,  and  would  in  the  course  of  time  by  a  reflex 
influ^ce  enter  very  materially  into  the  redemption  of 


300  MODERN  BAPTIST 

that  dark  continent  from  paganism;  but  such  was  His 
purpose,  and  that  purpose  was  not  slow  in  ripening. 
The  African  slave  in  America  almost  instantly  imbibed 
the  spirit  of  Christianity  from  his  master,  and  the  master 
almost  as  soon  learned  that  Christianity  was  an  essential 
element  to  instill  into  the  slave,  if  the  slave  was  to  be 
profitable.  It  is  by  no  means  the  object  of  this  story 
in  any  way  to  justify  slavery,  but  we  would  be  very 
unjust  to  our  own  convictions  if  we  did  not  say  that 
many  of  the  slave  masters  took  special  pains  to  see  to  it 
that  their  slaves  were  given  the  opportunity  to  attend 
religious  senaces,  even  though  the  services  were  held  in 
most  cases  under  the  guardful  eye  of  the  master  or  his 
representative. 

Prior  to  the  emancipation  most  of  the  slaves  who  had 
been  conATrted  held  membership  in  the  White  churches, 
yet  there  were  a  few  notable  exceptions,  for  in  the  North 
and  South  there  are  some  Negro  Baptist  churches  more 
than  a  hundred  years  old.  In  the  South,  notably  in 
Virginia  and  Georgia,  there  are  today  Negro  churches 
(Baptist)  which  were  organized  during  the  eighteenth 
centur}",  and  in  most  cases  the  pastors  of  the  Negi'o 
churches  prior  to  the  war  were  either  white  or  under 
the  guidance  of  white  ministers,  though  the  Negro  min- 
isters were  allowed  to  preach  or  exhort  to  their  own 
people. 

The  Baptist  idea  of  the  absolute  freedom  of  the  soul 
and  the  independent  worship  of  God  without  the  dic- 
tation of  civil  powers,  had  permeated  the  jmnds  of  the 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  301 

slaves  prior  to  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war,  and 
had  freedom  not  come  when  it  did  many  of  them  would 
have  sought  it,  and  doubtless  would  have  had  many 
white  Baptists  in  the  South  to  lend  them  aid  in  that  di- 
rection, for  slavery  cannot  exist  where  Baptist  principles 
prevail. 

Some  of  the  slave  converts  to  the  Christian  religion 
professed  to  be  caJled  to  the  ministry  and  boldly  pro- 
claimed it.  As  remarkable  as  it  may  seem  to  some,  the 
masters  in  most  cases  gladly  gave  liberty  to  such  men  to 
go  from  plantation  to  plantation  for  the  purpose  of 
preaching.  If  any  doubt  should  be  enlerlaincd  on  this 
matter,  I  would  a'=fk  you  to  read  Dr.  Hatcher's  book  on 
John  Jasper,  and  ako  the  words  of  Jasper,  himself,  as 
to  the  liberty  granted  him  by  his  master. 

In  1780  there  was  born  in  Charles  City,  Va.,  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  characters  of  modern  times. 
'Phis  was  no  other  than  Lott  Carey,  who  was  born  a 
slave,  but  fortunately  for  him  he  belonged  to  that  class 
of  slave  holders  Avho.  believed  it  right  for  their  slaves  to 
be  taught  the  benefits  of  the  Christian  religion.  Lott 
Carey  having  been  given  the  opportunity  to  hear  the 
Gospel,  which  always  reveals  the  incomprehensible  love 
of  God,  for  ''faith  comes  by  hearing,"  and  ha\drjg 
learned  that  ''God  so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His 
only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life,"  he  at  once 
surrendered  to  the  ^^ill  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  was  con- 
verted at  the   age  of  twenty-seven  years,  joining  th* 


302  MODERN  BAPTIST 

First  Baptist  diurch  (white)  oif  Richmond,  Va.  Not 
long  after  his  conversion,  Carey  made  the  fact  known 
that  he  was  called  of  God  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  hia 
church  promptly  gave  him  a  commission  to  preach. 

The  desire  which  Carey  had  to  preach  the  Gospel  was 
so  very  great  that  he  felt  himself  circumscribed  by  the 
bonds  of  slavery,  hence  he  set  about  to  obtain  his  free- 
dom. He  was  an  ordinary  hand  in  a  tobacco  factory  in 
Richmond,  Va.,  but  was  allowed  to  put  in  extra  time 
for  which  he  wa.s  paid  by  his  employer.  He  saved  all 
the  money  earned  in  that  way  until  he  had  sufficient 
funds  to  buy  himself  and  his  two  children,  his  wdfe 
having  been  released  from  the  bonds  of  slavery  by  death. 

The  education  of  Carey  was,  as  might  be  expected 
under  the  conditions  which  existed  at  that  time,  very 
limited;  but  education  does  not  consist  altogether  in  a 
knowledge  of  books,  hence  Carey  had  a  great  store  of 
knowledge  which  he  had  gained  while  a  slave  by  con- 
tact with  the  aristocratic  white  people  of  his  day  and 
time,  and  this  contact  had  broadened  his  vision  of  men 
and  things  to  the  extent  that  he  could  foresee  what 
Christianity  would  do  for  a  man  or  a  nation. 

Rev.  Wm.  Alexander,  the  secretary  of  the  Lott  Carey 
Convention,  from  whom  I  get  many  of  the  facts  of  this 
story,  in  his  report  to  that  body  in  1907,  said  of  his 
education;  ''He  attended  night  school  taught  by  a  white 
man,  a  friend  to  the  race.  Carey  was  the  best  student 
in  his  class,  and  soon  won  the  reputation  of  an  educated 
Negro.''     Like  Nehemiah,  w^ho,  though  doing  well  as  a 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  303 

sen^ant  in  the  house  of  a  king  could  not  repress  the 
sorrow  of  his  heart  for  his  people,  who  had  escaped  the 
capti\dty,  so  Corey's  heart,  after  he  had  gained  his  free- 
dom, went  out  to  his  brethren  in  far  away  Africa. 

The  one  Scripture  which  lingered  longest  in  his 
mind,  and  from  which  he  could  get  no  permanent  relief, 
wa.s  that  recorded  in  the  twenty-eighth  chapter  of  Mat- 
thew, nineteenth  and  twentietfch  verses,  ''Go  ye  therefore, 
and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  oi 
the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost:  *  *  * 
lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world, 
Amen.''  This  scripture  haunted  him  until  he  made  his 
desire  known  to  his  church,  that  he  must  go  to  Africa 
to  preach  the  Gospel,  He  was  given  the  privilege  of 
coming  before  the  church,  and  he  preached  his  farewell 
sermon  to  a  congregation  of  white  and  colored  people. 
Carey  used  as  his  text  on  the  occasion  of  his  farewell 
sermon,  these  words:  ''He  that  spared  not  His  own  Son, 
but  delivered  Him  up  for  us  all,  how  shall  He  not  with 
Him  also  freely  give  us  all  things." — Romans  8:32. 

It  is  said  that  the  impression  created  by  that  sermon 
was  so  deep  and  lasting  that  many  of  the  people  who  were 
in  the  congregation  set  about  from  that  hour  to  form  a 
foreign  missionary  society  among  his  own  people  for  the 
specific  purpose  of  giving  the  Gospel  to  the  millions  of 
heathen  in  Africa.  The  date  of  the  organization  of  the 
society  is  1815;  its  first  work  Avas  to  raise  money  to  send 
Carey  to  Africa. 

In  pursuance  with  his  set  purpose  to  go  lo  Africa  to 


304  MODERN  BAPTIST 

preach  Ihe  Gospel  to  his  brethren  on  the  dark  continent, 
he  set  sail  on  the  twenty-third  day  of  January,  1821, 
and  after  a  forty  d'ays'  voyage  landed  safely  in  Liberia. 
Having  reached  the  place  where  his  soul  had  longed  for, 
he  at  once  set  about  hoisting  the  banner  of  the  cross,  and 
in  a  short  time  he  got  together  a  sufficient  number  of 
persons  who  had  been  led  to  accept  the  Lord  .Tesus  Christ, 
and  organized  a  Baptist  church  which  stands  as  a  monu- 
ment to  his  greaJt  naiPxe  as  a  pioneer  missionar}^  to  tho 
people  of  the  dark  continent. 

As  slow  as  has  been  the  development  of  that  countn^, 
the  seed  sown  by  Carey  has  kept  pace  with  the  growth 
of  the  republic,  and  many  Baptist  churches  arc  there 
today  as  a  result  of  that  seed  sowing. 

The  ninety  years  that  intervened  between  the  timo 
of  the  sailing  of  Lott  Carey  and  the  present  time,  have 
not  caused  the  Kegro  Baptists  -of  this  country  to  forget 
the  perilous  undertaking  of  this  great  missionary  hero, 
and  they  have  in  honor  of  his  nJame  and  work,  organized 
an  active  missionar}^  society,  known  as  the  Lott  Carey 
Convention,  auxiliary  to  the  National  Baptist  Conven- 
tion, the  headquai'ters  of  wdiich  is  in  the  '^Old  Domin- 
ion'' fro'm  whence  Carey  went. 

It  is  said  by  some  that  the  cross  follows  the  flag,  but  to 
the  writer  it  seems  that  the  flag  follows  the  cross.  Lott 
Carey,  believing  that  Christiainity  and  civil  government 
are  inseparaible  in  the  development  of  any  country  and 
that, to  promote  the  welfare  of  Christianity  the  civil  au- 
thorities must  ho  sust-ained,  made  himself  interested  iu 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  305 

the  governraent  of  Liberia,  doing  what  he  could  to  instill 
into  the  minds  of  the  Liberian  people  his  crude  ideas 
of  a  democratic  form  of  government  so  characteristic 
of  thie  Baptists.  As  to  how  well  these  ideas  took  with 
the  Liberian  people  wall  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  ho 
was  for  a  time  an  important  official  of  the  government. 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  Negro  people  have  been 
unable  to  keep  an  accurate  account  of  the  doings  of  the 
race  during  the  days  of  slavery,  much  of  the  heroic  deeds 
of  these  people  have  been  lost,  and  yet  there  is  much 
which  is  still  passing  in  a  traditional  way  to  warrant 
the  assertion  that  many  devout,  pious  and  far-seeing 
Christians  ^veTQ  among  the  slaves  prior  to  the  Civil  War. 
Lott  Carey  will  ever  stand  forth  as  one  of  the  heroes 
of  his  race,  whose  love  for  the  <?ause  of  Jesus  Christ  not 
only  caused  him  to  secure  his  freedom,  but  to  brave  the 
stormy  Atlantic  that  he  might  plant  the  banner  of  the 
cross  on  the  continent  of  Africa,  his  fatherland. 

In  the  days  to  come  the  historians  will  place  along 
side  the  names  of  Wm.  Carey,  Judson  and  other  great 
missionar}^  heroes,  the  name  of  Lott  Carey,  the  first 
Negro  foreign  missionary  to  the  long  neglected,  pagan- 
ridden,  dark  continent,  Africa. 

In  giving  an  estimate  of  the  remarkable  subject  of 
this  sketch,  the  fact  should  not  be  overlooked  that  his 
early  days  were  spent  in  slavery,  and  that  he  did  not 
have  behind  him  a  long  line  of  cultured  and  refined 
ance^rj',  but  that  he  rose  out  of  the  school  of  experience, 
quickened  by  the  Spirit  of  God.   What  he  learned  from 


306  MODERN  BAPTIST 

contact  with  the  Christian  white  people  of  his  section 
combined  to  say  to  him;  ''Go,  swift  messenger,  go, 
and  tell  the  people  of  your  race  on  the  other  side  ol  thi 
Atlantic  the  simple  story  of  the  cross." 

We  have  no  reliable  data  of  the  date  of  his  death, 
but  he  died  at  his  post  after  several  years  of  earnest 
labor,  having  lived  long  enough  to  "see  the  travail  of  hia 
soul  and  be  satisfied/'  The  work  which  he  planted 
still  lives  and  hag  borne  much  fruit,  there  being  in  lA- 
beria  at  this  time  more  than  a  score  of  active  Baptist 
churches  as  a  result  of  his  planting.  Besides  these  other 
churches  have  grown  up  v/hich  are  the  outgrowth  of  the 
efforts  of  the  Foreign  Mission  Board  of  the  National 
Baptist  Convention. 

Many  precious  lives  have  been  sacrificed  in  the  pro- 
mulgation of  the  Gospel,  almost  upon  the  same  ground 
where  Carey  commenced  the  work  nearly  a  century  ago. 
The  missionaries  under  the  Negro  Foreign  Mission 
Board  have  not  all  been  free  from  persecution,  for  some 
of  the  native  helpers  now  on  the  field  have  suffered  im- 
prisonment, but  like  Paul,  have  said,  ''none  of  these 
things  move  me;"  "the  kings  of  the  earth  set  themselves, 
and  the  rulers  take  counsel  together  against  the  Lord 
and  against  His  anointed,  sajdng,  'let  us  break  their 
bands  asunder  and  cast  away  their  cords  from  us,'  "  "He 
that  sitteth  in  the  Heaven  shall  laugh ;  the  Lord  shall 
have  them  in  derision." 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  one  other  Negro  Baptist 
hero  went  out  from  the  South — Georgia.    In  the  year 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  307 

]783,  the  Negroes  of  the  '"'Empire  State"  raised  money 
and  sent  the  Rev.  George  Lisle  to  the  West  Indies,  whero 
he  planted  tlie  banner  of  the  cross.  As  the  result  of  hia 
labors  there  are  now  in  the  West  Indies  thirty  well  or- 
ganized Baptist  churches. 

E.  C.  Morris,  D.D.,  Helena,  Ark. 
President  of  the  National  Baptist  Convention. 


TOUSSAINT  L'  OUVERTURE, 
A  HAITIAN  MARTYR. 

Since  whoev-er  gives  his  life  in  freeing  the  people  in 
civic  and  religious  affairs  is  ^'fundamentally  a  Baptist" 
it  will  noi  be  fair  to  the  coming  generations  who  will 
read  this  book  to  fail  to  mention  this  great  man  of  pure 
Negro  blood,  who  through  his  ability  to  plan  and  to  put 
his  plan  into  execution  is  acknowledged  to  be  one  of  the 
greatest  generals  the  world  has  known.  In  discussing 
this  great  man^  we  must  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  he 
hved  at  a  time  w'hen  duty  to  one's  country  and  fellow 
man  came  first,  but  had  the  Baptist  doctrine  spread  its 
pinions  and  traveled  across  the  ocean  to  the  beautiful 
island  of  Haiti  during  the  time  of  his  life,  Toussaint 
L'Ouverture,  I  am  sure,  would  have  accepted  its  teach- 
ings and  abided  by  its  laws  and  regulations,  for  he  was 
a  lover  of  freedom  and  freedom's  harvests. 

Toussaint  L'Ouverture,  or  Toussaint  Breda,  was  bom 
on  the  island  of  Haiti,  May  20,  1743,  of  Negro  parent- 
age. It  is  said  that  not  one  drop  of  alien  blood  flowed 
through  his  veins.  His  father  was  the  second  son  of  an 
African  chief  who  had  been  stolen  from  his  father's 
home  on  the  coast  of  Africa  and  sold  'into  slavery  on 


310  MODERN  BAPTIST 

the  island.  In  youth  the  boy  was  very  delicate,  but  as 
he  grew  older  he  became  stronger.  He  is  supposed  to 
have  been  bom  at  Breda  and  was  of  a  very  kind  and 
generous  disposition.  Yvliile  quite  young  he  attained 
much  favor  ^ith  his  master  and  was  made  overseer  oi 
his  large  plantation.  By  grasping  every  opportunity  he 
obtained  a  good  education.  He  was  helped  in  this  by 
his  wife  who  was  a  widow  and  who  did  all  in  her  powf r 
to  help  her  husband  in  his  search  for  knowledge. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution  there  were 
ten  thousand  Negroes  on  the  Island  of  Haiti  and  almost 
as  many  mulattoea.  There  were  French,  English  and 
Spaniards  on  the  island  also.  The  mulattoes  growing 
tired  of  social  discrimination  began  to  clamor  for  equal- 
ity, and  the  island  was  tense  with  excitement.  After 
much  treachery  and  politick  intrigue  the  antagonistic 
parties  were  unable  to  reach  an  agreement  and  both 
factions  appealed  to  the  Negroes  of  the  island  and  there 
was  a  general  uprising. 

Toussaint  L'Ouverture  having  obtained  some  knowl- 
edge of  medicine  and  surger}^  went  first  among  the  sol- 
diers as  -a  physician,  but  his  people  were  sadly  in  need 
of  a  leader,  and  he  was  soon  called  to  the  front  to  lead 
them.  With  his  gift  of  guidance  and  leadership  he  waa 
soon  able  to  form  out  of  this  mass  of  untrained,  undis- 
ciplined humanity  (many  of  whom  had  never  seen  a 
soldier  until  France  began  to  pour  her  troops  into  their 
little  dominion)  an  army  that  was  able  to  drive  all  be- 
fore it  and  raise  the  flag  of  Negro  supremacy  over  the 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  311 

island  with  Toussaint  L'Ouverture  as  ruler  over  its  des- 
tiny. Under  iiis  rule  Haiti  was  happy  and  prosperous. 
In  May,  1801,  he  drafted  a  constitution  for  the  country 
and  submitted  it  to  France.  For  a  few  years  the  dove 
of  peace,  happiness  and  prosperity  hovered  over  this 
,  Pearl  of  the  Seas,  but  Napoleon  grew  jealous  of  the  free- 
dom enjoyed  by  these  Negroes  and  issued  a  mandate  re- 
ducing the  island  to  slavery,  sending  the  French  troops 
to  carry  out  his  orders. 

Bribes  were  offered  Toussaint  L'Ouverture  and  many 
were  the  fair  promises  made  to  him  if  he  would  enslave 
the  people  of  the  island,  but  his  great  heart  would  not 
allow  him  to  betray  his  brethren  with  whom  he  had 
fought  side  by  side,  many  of  whose  eyes  he  had  closed 
on  the  battlefield  after  they  had  laid  down  their  lives  on 
the  altar  to  freedom,  that  goddess  to  whom  all  men  pay 
obeisance.  He  had  miany  letters  in  Napoleon's  own 
handwriting  offering  him  enormous  wealth  if  he  would 
enslave  the  people  over  whom  he  ruled,  but  back  as  far 
fis  1801  it  was  proven  to  the  world  that  a  soul  can  live 
on  this  earth,  housed  in  a  body  of  ebony  hue  and  not 
be  guilty  of  treachery,  or  of  mean  or  low  trickery.  Tous- 
saint L'Ouverture  demonstrated  once  for  all  that  tht 
color  of  a  man's  skin  is  not  the  index  of  his  soul.  He 
epurned  the  wily  Frenchman's  offer  and  threw  as  it 
were  Napoleon's  gold  back  into  his  face.  But  Napoleon 
had  no  disposition  or  inclination  to  discriminate  between 
fair  and  foul  means  when  either  would  carry  out  his 
end.     If  the  former  would  not  carry  out  his  plans  he 


312  MODERN  BAPTIST 

would  without  a  tremor  resort  to  the  latter.  By  a  piec« 
of  low  treachery  he  fooled  this  Negro  ruler  aboard  a 
ship,  and  Toussaint  L'Ouverture,  pure  of  soul  and  know- 
ing nothing  of  trickery,  did  not  realize  his  awful  posi- 
tion, that  he  was  the  victim  of  a  foul  scheme,  till  the 
ship  at  the  bidding  of  Napoleon  weighed  anchor  and 
sailed  for  France,  with  himself  a  prisoner. 

Once  off  the  island  all  the  indignities  that  were  pos- 
fiible  were  heaped  upon  him.  Napoleon  had  him  placed 
in  a  dungeon  near  the  boundary  of  Switzerland  and 
France,  and  there  he  died  of  starvation,  April  27,  1803. 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  do  justice  to  this  black  genius 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  By  many  he  is  considered 
the  greatest  military  genius  the  world  has  produced. 
The  French  gave  to  the  world  the  great  Napoleon,  whose 
80ul  throbbed  with  the  same  amount  of  military  genius 
that  actuated  Hannibal  the  Garth agenian,  another  great 
Negro  general,  who  upon  being  informed  that  a  great 
natural  barrier  lay  between  him  and  his  desires,  said, 
"There  are  no  Alps,"  in  his  egotism  ignoring  one  of  the 
greatest  and  sublimest  attestations  of  God's  power.  But 
we  must  remember  at  the  age  of  twenty-four  when  the 
firea  of  a  man's;  soul  bum  brightest  and  every  sinew 
is  throbbing  with  an  ovex-exuberance  of  life,  the  well- 
trained  Napoleon  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  best  army 
ever  brought  together  on  European  soil.  The  English 
gave  to  history  Oliver  Cromwell.  Cromwell  had  to  make 
his  army,  it  is  true,  but  he  had  at  his  disposal  all  the 
■olidity,  courage  and  hardihood  of  the  English  combined 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  313 

with  the  firo,  valor  and  love  of  freedom  of  the  Irish, 
and  when  he  went  forth  to  battle  it  was  to  conquer  hia 
equals.  But  Toussaint  L'Ouverture  by  sheer  force  of  abil- 
ity arose  from  the  depths  and  degradation  of  slavery 
and  took  his  place  as  leader  of  his  people.  To  him  was 
given  the  double  task  of  rising  out  of  the  mire  of  ignor- 
ance, superstition  and  vice,  and  then  of  reaching  down 
to  bring  fifteen  thousand  of  his  own  people  up 
from  the  same  degraded  level  he  himself  had  left. 

Yes,  Oliver  Cromwell  made  England's  great  army; 
Napoleon  as  the  leader  of  the  French  is  without  a  peer 
in  history,  but  it  was  left  to  a  Negro,  born  under  the 
awful  cloud  of  human  slavery,  rocked  in  the  lap  of 
treachery,  vice  and  crime,  nursed  on  the  bottle  of  ignoi^ 
ance,  to  rise  up  and  assume  the  leadership  of  a  class  of 
despicable  human  bein.g3,  called  Negroes,  degraded  by 
yeai^  of  servitude,  and  out  of  this  mass  of  humanity  to 
train  an  army  that,  to  use  some  of  the  words  of  Mac- 
aulay,  ''Brought  down  the  proudest  blood  of  Europe, 
the  Spanish,  and  sent  them  home  conquered;  met  tho 
mo.^t  warlike  blood  in  Europe,  the  French,  and  put  them 
under  his  feet ;  outwitted  the  pluckiest  blood  in  Europe* 
the  English,  who  sulked  home  to  Jamaica." 

Notwithstanding  the  cloud  under  whic^h  he  was  bom 
with  its  heritage  of  ignorance,  superstition  and  crime 
this  man  had  the  true  essentials  of  religion.  It  is  doubt- 
ful if  he  had  the  time  during  his  militar}^  career  to  search 
the  Scriptures,  yet  his  was  the  spirit  of  the  lowly  Nazar- 
ene,  for  when  he  was  parting  with  hia  eon  in  that  lonely 


314  MODERN  BAPTIST 

castle  in  the  cold,  bleak  mountains,  witii  nothing  before 
him  but  days  of  dreary  confinement  and  without  even 
the  necessities  of  life,  he  said  to  his  son,  ''My  boy,  you 
will  one  day  go  back  to  San  Domingo;  forget  that  Franc« 
murdered  your  father/' 

Here  was  a  man  who  could  weigh  wealth  on  one  side 
and  duty  to  his  fellow  man  on  the  other  and  not  allow 
the  gleam  of  the  metal  to  change  his  conviction. 

In  this  day  of  prejudice  and  narrowness,  a  hero 
with  a  black  skin  does  not  receive  due  recognition  from 
the  world;  but  the  time  will  come  when  things  will  have 
changed,  when  God  giving  heed  to  the  clamorings  of 
this  mass  of  black  humanity  will  step  out  on  the  portals 
of  glory  and  begin  to  bring  order  out  of  <2haos,  right  out 
of  wrong.  Then  will  the  minds  of  men  be  broadened; 
then  the  motto  of  the  world  will  be;  ''Texture  of  soul, 
not  color  of  skin.*'  In  that  time  when  God  in  looking 
over  the  names  of  those  who  have  done  well,  though 
many  names  will  be  on  the  list,  He  will  not  fail  to  note 
the  hero  leader,  regardless  of  color.  Then  will  He  read 
out  with  the  others  and  give  honor  to  the  name  of 
Toussaint  U  Ouverture,  the  Black  General  of  Haiti. 

R.  H.  Boyd,  D.D., 
Nashville,  Tenn. 


KIN  CHEOSS,  AN  INDIAN  HERO. 

Kin  Cheosg  was  the  name  of  a  Waco  Indian  Medi- 
cine Man.  He  was  born  about  the  year  of  1800.  His 
childhood  home  was  beside  the  beautiful  Brazos,  at  the 
place  where  the  city  of  Waco,  Texas,  noAv  stands.  This 
city  took  its  name  from  the  Indian  tribe  that  onco 
lived  there.  Kin  Oheoss  was  a  youncj  brave  when  the 
white  men  first  began  to  settle  in  the  Brazos  valley. 
The  chief  of  the  Wacoes  at  that  time  was  the  famous 
Red  Tail,  a  noted  warrior.  When  the  white  men  be- 
gan hunting  on  the  hunting  grounds  of  the  Indians, 
and  began  killing  the  buffalo  which  the  In^dianis  re- 
garded as  their  cattle,  the  Indians  protested.  So  ^^gor- 
cus  was  the  protest  of  Red  Tail  that  the  white  people 
were  compelled  to  treat  with  them.  The  treaty  was 
brought  about  by  the  famous  Sam  Houston,  and  the 
treaty  was  signed  by  him.  I  have  a  copy  of  the  treaty, 
which  I  copied  from  the  original  which  was  then  in 
the  possession  of  Goth  Cho  Tehat  (Buflalo  Good),  the 
son  and  successor  of  Red  Tail.  That  treaty  reciteid 
that  all  hagtilities  should  cease,  and  that  a  boundary 
line  be  established  between  the  Wacoes  and  the  white 
people,  and  that  line  should  run  north  from  the  junc- 
tion of  the  San  Saba  and  the  Cow  House,  to  the  Ante- 
lope   Butt^.     The    Indians    adhered    faithfully  to  the 


316  MODERN  BAPTIST 

treatV;  bait  the  white  people  violated  it  without  con- 
science. The  white  settlers  paid  no  attention  to  the 
line,  but  settled  west  of  it,  and  continued  to  kill  bnfTalo 
wherever  they  could  find  them.  Then  there  arose  trouble 
between  the  young  braves  and  the  settlers.  Eed  Tail 
sent  this  message  to  Sam  Houston:  ''If  you  will  not 
keep  your  people  from  our  side  of  the  line,  I  cannot 
keep  my  people  from  killing  your  people."  Thereupon 
General  Sam  Houston  issued  a  proclamation  warning 
the  white  people  from  breaking  the  treaty.  But  the 
warning  did  no  good,  and  a  war  ensued.  The  Indians 
of  course  were  driven  back. 

Kin  Cheoss  was  from  his  boyhood  a  worshiper  of 
the  Great  Spirit.  He  found  this  tradition  among  his 
people:  In  the  long-ago  'ages  there  was  a  white  man 
who  came  among  them,  called  Corles  (supposed  to  have 
been  Cortez) .  He  had  a  cross,  and  was  afraid  of  it.  He 
told  the  Indian  fathers  that  a  white  man  would  one 
daj'-  come  and  tell  them  of  the  Great  Spirit.  And  this 
was  accepted  as  a  prophecy.  The  Wacoes  firmly  believed 
it.  But  owing  to  the  warfare  between  the  Wacoes  and 
the  white  people,  it  was  hard  to  believe  that  the  white 
people  would  ever  come  to  them  with  anything  good. 
But  in  his  heart,  Kin  Cheoss  hid  all  these  things. 
Sometimes  he  Vv'ould  cry  out  in  agony:  ''Come,  O  Great 
Spirit  and  tell  us."  One  day  a  chief  named  Soda 
Arko  returned  from  a  trading  trip  to  the  Seminoles  and 
told  the  stor}^  of  how  he  had  seen  -xrith  his  ovm  eyes  the 
promised  Father-Talker,  and  that  he  had  promised  to 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  317 

come  to  them  in  the  spring.  Kin  Cheoss  lookei  and 
longed  for  the  promised  time  to  come.  He  made  medi- 
cine after  the  custom  of  his  people,  hoping  to  bring  the 
white  Father-Talker  earlier. 

One  day,  about  the  middle  of  June  in  1877  there 
came  a  runner  through  the  camp  saying  that  the  white 
Father-Talker  had  come  and  was  then  in  Ketch  Kaw'a 
camp.  All  the  Indians  were  stirred  at  the  new?.  The 
next  day  the  Father-Talker  appeared  together  with  a 
band  of  civilized  Indians.  Word  quickly  spread,  and 
soon  a  vast  concourse  of  Indians  was  gathered  together. 
The  Father-Talker  announced  that  two  days  from  that 
time  ho  would  talk  to  all  the  Indians  at  the  hill,  west 
of  the  ford  on  Sugar  Creek.  At  nine  o'clock  of  that 
morning,  a  vast  congregation  gathered.  There  was  the 
stalwart  John  Jumper,  John  Mcintosh,  Hulbutta  Harjo 
nnd  Tulsa  Micco.  John  Jumper,  weighing  three  hun- 
dred pounds  in  his  moccasins,  first  spoke,  and  his  j^eech 
was  interpreted  by  John  Mcintosh.  He  introduced  the 
Father-Talker,  saying  what  a  blessing  he  was  to  his 
people.  Then  came  the  speech  of  the  Father-Talker. 
He  spoke  all  the  rest  of  the  day.  He  told  the  Gospel 
story.  For  the  first  time  they  heard  it.  Kin  Cheoi=».s 
pressed  close  and  listened  breatiilessly. 

He  told  of  the  wonderful  Cliiist,  of  His  miraculous 
birth.  His  benevolent  life,  and  His  sacrificial  death. 
There  crept  into  the  heart  of  Kin  Cheoss  a  great  peace 
r.nd  a  light  brighter  than  the  sun.  At  tlie  clo.=e  of  his 
talk,  the  Father-Talker,  invited  any  who  might  desire 


318  MODERN  BAPTIST 

to  walk  this  road,  to  arise  and  then  Kin  Cheoss  arose, 
and  came  forward  with  great  swelling  em'otions  in  hia 
heart.  Then  the  Father-Talker  said,  "Let  iis  pray  to  the 
great  Father,' '  and  then  the  Indians  all  knelt,  s'ome  of 
them  falling  flat  on  their  faces.  Kin  Cheoss  was  among 
the  latter.  Close  to  him  knelt  the  Father-Talker.  He 
talked  '\^dth  the  Great  Spirit,  to  whom  Kin  Cheoss  wa«i 
near,  and  he  felt  rather  than  saw  a  great  light.  Then 
there  fell  on  the  heart  of  JKin  Cheoss  a  glad  peace  and 
he  was  supremely  happy.  IVhen  they  arose  from  their 
prostrate  position.  Kin  Cheoss  clasped  the  Father-Talker 
and  lifted  him  bodily  from  his  feet  and  carried  him 
about  while  tears  streamed  down  his  face.  That  was  the 
greatest  day  in  the  life  of  Kin  Cheoss.  He,  with  about  a 
dozen  others,  was  baptized  by  the  preacher  and  John 
Mcintosh  in  Sugar  Creek  and  a  new  life  was  opened  to 
him.  He  miade  medicine  no  longer  to  an  unknown  God. 
He  -went  directly  to  Jesus  who  had  given  him  supreme 
peace. 

One  act  of  his  Christian  life  I  ^ill  mention:  When 
the  persecutions  of  the  Father-Talker  came  and  he  was 
ordered  to  leave  immediately  his  field  of  labor  by  the 
government,  Kin  Cheoss  came  to  his  relief,  and  ^aid 
he  would  take  his  horse  and  keep  it  for  him  while  he 
was  gone.  Furthermore  that  he  would  watch  his  wife, 
who  was  ill  and  could  not  be  moved,  and  that  he  would 
stand  between  her  and  all  danger,  and  that  his  life  would 
answer  for  hers.  Her  husband  was  absent  about  a 
month.    During  all  this  time  Kin   Cheoss  was  never 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  319 

once  in  the  house,  but  seemed  to  be  omnipresent 
about  the  premises.  vShe  was  out  of  meat,  and  moat  and 
bread  were  the  only  articles  of  diet.  Kin  Cheoss  found 
it  out  by  some  sort  of  alchemy,  and  one  morning  she 
saw  him  coming  up  the  hill  with  a  leg  of  venison, 
which  ho  hung  on  a  tree  near  the  door.  It  was  against 
the  instructions  of  the  government  agent  for  the  Indians 
to  furnish  white  people  anything.  She  was  never  again 
in  want  during  her  husband's  absence.  A¥hen  he  re- 
lumed, Kin  Cheoss  was  the  first  to  see  him,  and  coming 
forvN-'ard  with  outstretched  hands,  he  said,  ^'There  mfe. 
I  go." 

When  in  later  years  the  white  Father-Talker  wai 
transferred  to  another  field,  the  day  he  left  Kin  Cheoss 
came,  and  took  him  into  a  quiet  plac^  and  said,  mostly 
in  the  sign  language,  ''You  go,  me  stay ;  you  live  long, 
me  soon  lie  dowm  and  get  up  no  more.  TVTaen  me  lie  down 
and  get  up  no  more,  Jesus  come  and  take  me  to  Him. 
Then  me  be  very  happy.  But  me  watch  for  you  come. 
By  and  by  after  long  time,  you  lie  do^vn  and  get  up 
no  more.  Then  you  come  up  and  I  see  you  come.  Then 
I  come  and  take  you  by  hand,  and  lead  you  up  to  Jesus 
and  say :  'Here  J«sus,  this  is  the  Father-Talker  that  told 
me  about  You.'  " 

Then  he  embraced  me  and  took  his  departure,  and 
I  saw  his  face  no  more. 

This  parting  scene  is  made  famous  by  ha\nlng  been 
published  in  the  book  of  i\Iajor  Powell,  of  Cohimbia 
College,  and  printed  by  the  government,  and  kept  in 


320  MODERN  BAPTIST 

the  Smithsonian  Institute  as  the  best  extant  specimen 
of  the  sign  language. 

The  Faither-Talker  desires  to  pay  this  grateful  trib- 
ute to  his  friend:  He  was  one  of  the  most  sincere  and 
spiritually  minded  persons  I  have  ever  met.  That  he 
was  a  true  child  of  God,  I  have  never  once  stood  in 
doubt.  Long  ago  he  departed.  In  the  regions  beyond 
he  is  wat<?hing  and  waiting. 

A.  J.  Holt,  D.D. 
Oklahoma  City,  Okla. 


THE  MARTYR  MARKS. 

On  an  excessively  cold  night  in  December,  1872, 
I  met  an  engagement  to  speak  on  education  in  the 
Baptist  church  at  Chatham,  Virginia.  It  was  only  a 
poor  audience  that  braved  the  rigors  of  the  night — pos- 
sibly not  more  than  forty  or  fifty  persons  in  all.  In  the 
historical  portion  of  my  address  I  gave  a  brief  account 
of  that  brave  old  spirit  of  colonial  times.  Rev.  John 
Wetherford,  whose  dauntless  spirit  and  fearless  convic- 
tions got  him  into  many  serious  troubles  with  the  civic 
and  ecclesiastical  authorities  of  colonial  times.  He 
traveled  far  and  wide  in  Southside  Virginia  and  by 
his  fiery  eloquence  he  created  great  excitement.  Scores 
and  hundreds  were  converted  under  his  preaching  and 
in  many  cases  he  was  obliged  to  administer  baptism  in 
the  later  hours  of  the  night  lest  the  enemies  of  his  faith 
should  pounce  upon  him  and  take  him  to  jail. 

For  quite  a  long  time  Mr.  Wetherford  was  confined 
in  the  colonial  jail  at  Chesterfield,  C.  H.,  Va.,but  neither 
prison  bars  nor  locks  had  terror  for  him.  His  brethren, 
and  admirers  flocked  on  Sunday  to  the  village  and 
thronged  the  yard  of  the  jail.  Their  loyalty  and  their 
eagerness  to  hear  the  Word  stirred  the  heart  of  the 
courageous  prisoner  and  he  would  lift  the  window  and 


322  MODERN  BAPTIST 

thmst  his  hands  through  the  bars  that  he  might  shake 
hands  with  his  loyal  friends.  He  would  also  preach 
through  the  window  to  the  assemblage  and  often  in  the 
ardor  of  delivery  would  thrust  his  hands  through  the 
bars  in  earnest  gesture.  Men  of  the  baser  sort  were 
instigated  to  stand  on  either  side  of  the  window  and 
armed  with  knives  would  slash  his  hands  in  unpitying 
cruelty,  until  as  it  was  said  his  hand  would  stream  with 
blood  as  he  spoke,  and  sometimes  in  his  gesticulations 
forgetful  of  the  wounds  he  would  scatter  his  blood  on 
his  hearers  or  on  the  ground.  This  story  I  related  some- 
what in  detail  and  much  to  the  interest  of  the  appreci- 
ative audience. 

When  I  finished  my  address,  I  took  my  seat  and  a 
serious  silence  ensued.  Presently  a  stocky  old  gentle- 
man with  white  hair  and  a  strong  face  came  to  his  feet. 
I  learned  afterward  that  it  was  Dr.  \Vm.  White,  an 
eminent  physician  of  that  community,  a  pronounced 
Baptist  and  an  eloquent  speaker. 

''My  neighbors  and  friends/'  said  the  doctor  in 
tones  almost  auspicious,  "this  visitor  has  told  us  strange 
things  tonight,  and  of  my  own  knowledge  I  cannot 
testify  that  many  of  the  things  that  he  has  said  are 
true  for  I  never  heard  of  them  before,  but  I  must  at 
least  thank  the  gentleman  for  explaining  to  me  one 
thing  which  has  been  a  puzzle  and  a  confusion  to  me. 

"It  may  not  be  known  to  all  of  you,  though  it  is 
a  fact,  that  Mr.  John  Wetherford,  so  graphically  de- 
scribed by  the  speaker  tonight,  settled  just  eight  milea 


HEROES  AND  MARTYRS.  323 

from  this  place  after  the  Revolutionary  War.  He  was 
one  of  God's  mightiest  men,  a  preacher  of  surpassing 
power  and  many  of  the  churches  in  this  section  of  Vir- 
ginia were  founded  by  his  ministry.  We  are  indebted 
to  him  in  large  measure  for  the  strong  Baptist  sentiment 
now  existing  in  this  and  adjacent  counties. 

"One  morning  I  noticed  that  my  father,  dressed 
with  unwonted  care,  was  about  to  set  off  for  a  journey 
on  horseback.  When  I  asked  him  where  he  was  going, 
he  said  with  great  seriousness,  he  was  going  to  attend 
the  funeral  of  the  Rev.  John  Wetherford,  one  of  the 
greatest  preachers  he  had  ever  known.  To  my  grateful 
surprise  he  consented  that  I  might  go  with  him.  I  was 
put  astride  the  horse  behind  him.  My  astonishment 
knew  no  bounds  when  I  reached  the  home  of  the  old 
preacher.  Never  had  I  seen  such  an  array  of  horses, 
carriages,  wagons  and  other  vehicles  as  fairly  covered 
the  earth.  W^hen  I  expressed  my  amazement  at  the 
sight,  my  father  told  me  in  accents  serious  and  tender 
that  the  people  had  come  from  every  direction  to  testify 
to  the  worth  and  honor  of  the  good  man. 

"After  the  funeral  exercises  were  concluded  we  were 
told  that  those  who  desired  to  do  so  would  be  allowed  to 
take  a  last  look  at  the  dead.  It  was  a  moment  of  awe 
to  me,  for  I  had  not  seen  the  face  of  the  dead  before. 
I  clasped  tightly  my  father's  hand  and  followed  him 
as  the  line  filed  by  the  coffin.  I  was  barely  tall  enough 
to  look  into  the  coffin.  The  hands  of  the  veteran  min- 
ister lay  ungloved  upon  his  breast  with  palms  down- 


324  MODERN  BAPTIST 

wsiTd.  I  noticed  the  stiff  and  bloodless  look  they  had 
and  saw  white  and  rigid  seams  extending  across  the 
back  of  each  hand.  The  fact  impressed  me  at  the  time, 
but  I  kept  silence  and  a  thousand  times  I  dare  say  I 
recalled  those  singular  marks  on  the  hands  of  the  dead 
preacher,  but  never  attempted  to  explain  them.  I  thank 
my  brother  for  bringing  me  tonight  so  simple  and  satis- 
factory a  solution  of  a  perplexity  which  for  full  sixty 
years  has  troubled  my  mind.  They  were  the  marks  of 
the  Lord  Jesus — martyr  marks  of  God's  hero.  Honor 
to  his  noble  memory  and  to  all  who  have  suffered  for 
the  Kingdom  of  God.  Our  illustrious  father  Weth- 
erford  sleeps  this  winter  night  in  a  neglected  grave — no 
granite  shaft  nor  marble  slab,  nor  enclosure,  not  even 
a  flower,  pays  tribute  to  the  memory  of  this  good  man. 
He  not  only  suffered  for  us  and  for  the  principles  which 
we  cherish,  but  it  was  his  tears  and  blood  which  gave 
us  our  place  and  prominence  in  Virginia  tonight.  If 
by  my  modest  gift,  a  gift  which  must  be  small — ^for 
cruel  war  has  lately  ra\dshed  me  of  all  my  substance, 
I  can  do  aught  to  honor  the  martyr  spirit  of  John 
Wetherford  and  his  co-laborers,  I  will  account  it  a  happy 
and  honorable  privilege  to  do  so."  Before  taking  his 
seat,  the  venerable  doctor,  who  had  set  flame  to  every 
heart  by  his  unconscious  eloquence,  named  a  sum  that 
he  would  give  to  the  memorial  movement  for  education, 
so  unexpectedly  generous  that  it  called  forth  speedy  and 
unusual  responses. 

William  E.  Hatcher,  D.D.,  Fork  Union,  Va. 


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